On February 15, 2024, the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova voted in the second reading of the draft Law on trademarks, developed to ensure the correspondence of the national trademark protection system to the European one and the compatibility of the national regulatory framework with the provisions of EU acts.

Through this initiative, it is proposed to regulate the basic concepts and procedures in the matter of trademarks.

For example, IP Office ex officio examination of the possibility of registering a trademark will be carried out only in the light of absolute grounds for refusal. The relative reasons for refusal will be invoked only in the opposition procedure, by the owners of the previous trademarks, who consider that the registration of the respective trademark will affect their rights. The opposition procedure is a distinct stage in the stage of examination of the applications and in this sense, a commission will be created, which will examine the opposition applications.

Since relative reasons for refusal will not be examined by the Office ex officio, it should also reduce deadlines in the examination of trademark registration applications.

Also the procedure for forfeiture of rights or declaration of nullity will be possible to carry out, including within the framework of the Office. Thus, within the Office, a committee will operate that will resolve these requests.

The provisions of the normative act adopted by the Parliament will enter into force upon the expiration of the term of 3 years from the date of publication in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Moldova.