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Dear clients and cooperation partners,
Sorainen Belarus Intellectual Property team is happy to greet you from frozen, snowbound Minsk!
Below, we would like to share some news on changes in Belarus legislation on protection of intellectual property rights, market developments, and interesting IP cases considered by the local courts. We hope you enjoy this snapshot of the local IP scene.
LAWS
Since late 2016 Belarus is now a member of the Patent Law Treaty together with France, Russia, the USA and 30+ other countries. The Patent Law Treaty is in tune with the Paris Convention and the PCT and aims at unifying patent application procedures, making the life of foreign applicants easier.
COURT STATISTICS
In 2016 there were 125 IP lawsuits (10% more than in 2015), including 65 re copyright and 60 re industrial property. TM disputes involved early termination of TM, TM violation, challenging decisions of the Appeal Board of the Belarus PTO, and unfair competition. Foreign companies were involved in 22 lawsuits. Out of the total number of lawsuits the court resolved 103, including 94 during the first court session. Only 8 decisions were subject to supervisory review and all remained in force.
HELPING OUR CLIENTS SUCCEED
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One of the largest food chains in the region, Hesburger, launched in Belarus. Our assistance involved representing Hesburger in negotiations with the franchisee and localising the master franchise agreement under Belarus law. |
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Synopsys, the world's 15th largest software company, established in the US, acquired leading software company Codiscope. We helped with revision of the software development agreement concluded with the Belarus developer and advised on IP transfer and licensing matters. |
MARKET HIGHLIGHTS
Twix + Snickers = Twickers?
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Belarus company Onega released a new chocolate bar, Twickers. According to Mars, Twickers infringes its two TMs – Twix and Snickers. Onega parries that something cannot be confusingly similar with two TMs simultaneously. We will see how the matter is resolved if it hits the court. |
Mayonnaise dispute
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Are these two mayonnaise packages confusingly similar? Yes, according to the Belarus Supreme Court, which ruled in favour of КАМАКО (the package on the right) and qualified the actions of ABC (the package on the left) as unfair competition. |
Kvass dispute
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Are these two kvass packages confusingly similar? No, according to the Belarus Supreme Court, which rejected a claim by Lidskoe Pivo (the package on the right) denying its unfair competition claim against Marketing-Centr and SODASTRIM RUS (the package on the left). |
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