As of today, criminal liability for the Illegal use of intellectual property objects is provided in Uzbekistan
Today, amendments to the legislation enter into force, providing for criminal liability for the unauthorized use of means of individualization, industrial property, and copyright objects, including imprisonment for up to three years, which is a novelty for the national legislation. The amendments also introduce penalties in the form of restriction of liberty, corrective labor, and significantly higher fines compared to those provided under administrative liability — in particular, up to the equivalent of about USD 5,000. At the same time, criminal liability is provided only in cases where major damage is caused, namely in an amount exceeding the equivalent of about USD 10,000, which must still be proven. In addition, criminal liability may be avoided if the offense is committed for the first time and the material damage is compensated within 30 days, and it is also possible to avoid imprisonment if the damage is compensated in any other case. Thus, given the numerous reservations and exceptions contained in the new provisions, the most severe punishment in the form of imprisonment for this type of offense is unlikely to be applied in practice, and therefore is unlikely to serve as a deterrent for unfair individuals from committing such violations.
2025-11-10 19:56:09
Uzbekistan's accession to The Hague International Design System under the Geneva Act
Uzbekistan recently accessed the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement, which provides for the possibility of international registration of industrial designs in member States/offices, with a number of reservations, namely: announced individual fees, refused to provide applicants with the opportunity to postpone the publication of information about an industrial design, provided for the requirement of unity of designs of one application, designated the maximum period for granting legal protection at 15 years from the date of international registration, provided for the possibility of conducting examinations of applications within 12 months, as well as other formalities, also, for the security requirements.
2024-06-24 20:30:22
Uzbekistan's accession to the Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations
Last month Uzbekistan joined another International Convention on copyright, with several reservations. In particular, taking advantage of the opportunity provided by paragraph 2 of art. 6 of the Convention, it stated that "it will ensure the protection of broadcasting only if the headquarters of the broadcasting organization is located in another Contracting State and the transmission is carried out using a transmitter located in the same Contracting State". In addition, Uzbekistan has notified that it will not apply the art. 12 of the Convention providing for the payment of remuneration for the secondary use of phonograms to the performers and/or the producers, as regards phonograms the producer of which is not a national of another Contracting State, taking advantage of the possibility of reservations provided by subparagraph (a) (iii) of paragraph 1 of art. 16 of the Convention.
2024-06-24 20:28:51
Starting from 2025, Uzbekistan is expected to unify the amount of patent fees for residents of all countries
Recently, in order to bring national legislation into line with WTO norms, the Law was adopted that provides, among other things, for amendments to take effect on January 1, 2025, to the amounts of patent fees set for today in such a way that there are no differences between national and foreign residents, but only between legal entities and individuals which are currently missing. It should be noted that the entry into force of these amendments will lead to a significant reduction in the amount of patent fees for foreign residents. Also, this Law amended the norm of legislation on trademarks, namely, providing for the possibility of invalidation a certificate for this object on the ground of unfair competition, in particular, the time frame for the application of this possibility, previously applicable only for three years from the date of publication of information on the registration of the object, was eliminated. Thus, from now on, a trademark certificate may be invalidated during the entire period of validity of the mark on the ground of unfair competition. In addition, the norms of legislation on the issuance of a compulsory license for the use of an object of industrial property through the legal action in case of non-use by the patent owner, where large gaps had previously taken place, were specified. In particular, the terms during which non-use of the object by the owner is permissible were clarified in detail, the conditions that may lead to the issuance of such a license were prescribed, a minimum period of 2 months was provided for the patent owner to consider a proposal to grant a license to an interested party voluntarily, as well as the possibility of revoking a compulsory license in case of elimination of circumstances which served as the basis for its issuance.
2024-02-21 13:21:51
A new object of intellectual property in Uzbekistan - a Geographical indication. News of the legislation. Uzbekistan.
At the beginning of March of this year, such an absolutely new for Uzbekistan intellectual property object as a geographical indication appeared in this jurisdiction in connection with the adoption of the relevant law. Earlier in Uzbekistan, it was possible to protect only such an object as the appellations of origin of goods, which significantly narrowed the possibilities of manufacturers, since, as is known, this object and the concept is narrower. In addition, the presence of this facility creates serious prerequisites for Uzbekistan's accession to the international system of legal protection of geographical indications, which will create even wider opportunities for promoting and increasing the recognition of products of Uzbek origin on world markets.
2022-04-05 23:14:47
The status of an entrepreneur is no longer mandatory for individuals who own trademarks. News of the legislation. Uzbekistan.
The fact that an individual does not have the status of an entrepreneur at the time of registration of a trademark on his name can no longer be the basis for invalidating such registration, after some changes were made to the legislation at the beginning of this month. Also, at the beginning of May of this year, such amendments to the legislation come into effect, in which significantly higher fines may be imposed on legal entities for unauthorized use of industrial property objects and means of individualization than are now established for such infringement actions on officials, and the possibility of imposing fines on legal entities in a pre-trial order by the patent office, subject to fairly operational procedures.
2022-02-11 21:34:12
The accelerated examination of a designation applied for registration as a trademark has been introduced. News of the legislation. Uzbekistan.
Minor changes also affected the legislation on trademarks of the Republic of Uzbekistan in August, namely, the procedure for their registration. So, for example, the right of third parties to file objections with PTO against unfair registration of a trademark after the publication of information about the submitted application for such a mark was prescribed. It also became possible to conduct a so-called accelerated examination of the claimed designation, if necessary, of course, subject to payment of additional tariffs for such services of the PTO. However, the acquisition of legal protection in this way, as is known, is fraught with its withdrawal by the PTO unilaterally in the event that the relevant rights to similar / identical objects of third parties that have arisen earlier are discovered. In addition, from now on, exclusive rights to trademarks arise from the date of their registration, and not from the date of publication of information about their registration in an official periodical as used to, that is a little earlier.
2021-09-08 17:36:01
The period of validity of exclusive rights to copyright objects after the death of the author was extended to 70 years. News of the legislation. Uzbekistan.
In the second half of August of this year some changes were made to the copyright legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan: In particular, the validity period of the exclusive rights to an object after the death of the author / the last of the co – authors / the first publication after the death of the author was extended-from 50 years to 70 years, therefore, it is now identical with the same in some European countries. This change will allow national copyright objects to obtain the protection for a longer period in the countries – parties of the Berne Convention, where the period of protection of a similar duration is also granted. At the same time, the changes did not affect the validity period of rights to objects published under a pseudonym or anonymously. In addition, the scope of the compensation to be paid by the copyright infringer, regardless of the fact of causing losses, was regulated, that is the minimum and maximum amounts, which, we believe, will help authorities to make decisions about its amount on each specific copyright protection case proceeding, and also guarantees the copyright holder its minimum amount.
2021-09-08 16:18:13
The period during which non-use of a trademark / service mark may lead to its early cancellation has been reduced to 3 years. News of the legislation. Uzbekistan.
Last month of this year, small but significant amendments were made to the law of the Republic of Uzbekistan on trademarks and service marks, according to which the non-use of a trademark / service mark by its owner without valid reasons during the last 3 years of its validity considered as a basis for early cancellation of this mark before court, which can be used by interested parties. It should be noted that, previously this period was 5 years, which allowed individuals to hold in possession of marks for this period without any purpose or with certain unfair purposes.
2020-11-17 12:40:54