– Law on Trademarks, effective as of July 1, 2010, with further changes of June 16, 2011, October 19, 2016, and August 12, 2023.

– Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), since April 22, 1993.
– Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, Stockholm Act, since May 17, 1994.
– Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, since May 17, 1994.
– The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (Apostille), party since August 14, 1994.
– Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, since October 19, 2000.
– WTO’s TRIPS Agreement, since February 5, 2003.
– Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks, since March 6, 2005.
– Vienna Agreement Establishing an International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks, since March 6, 2005.
– Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks, since September 17, 2013.
– Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union, effective as of January 1, 2015; some sections are effective as of January 2, 2018.

Applicant: natural persons, individual entrepreneurs or legal entities.

Foreigners: enjoy the same rights as nationals; must elect a registered local agent.

Service marks: protection is provided for. 

Appellation of origin: protection is provided for. It is regulated by the new separate Law on Geographical Indications effective as of July 1, 2010.

Kind of protection: verbal, figurative and other distinctive combinations thereof, in color or color combinations; holograms, colors, combinations of colors or their compositions, sounds; miscellaneous type trademarks. protection is provided for.

Not registrable:

Based on absolute grounds – (1) a mark which is devoid of any distinctive character; (2) consists exclusively of indexes or signs which serve, in trade, to indicate the time of production of the goods or of rendering of the service, type, quality, quantity, intended purpose, value, geographical origin or other characteristics of the goods and/or services; (3) consists exclusively of signs or indexes which have become common in the current language or acquire the fair reputation in trade practices; (4) represents exclusively the outward appearance of the goods which results from the nature (features) of the goods that is necessary to obtain a technical result or depict the purpose (functionality) of the goods, or gives substantial value to the goods; (5) is contrary to public policy or to principles of humanism or morality, or undermines national or spiritual values; (6) is liable for deceiving the public in regard to the geographical origin, quality, nature, or producer of the goods or services; (7) reproduces or includes state emblems, flags or symbols, official state names or their abbreviations, full or abbreviated names of international and intergovernmental organizations, official symbols, as well as hallmarks denoting state control, guarantee and fineness, stamps, seals, awards, and other distinguishing signs (in accordance with Article 6ter of the Paris Convention), or resemble to them so as to create a likelihood of confusion; (8) reproduces marks or emblems, which are not protected by Article 6ter of the Paris Convention, but represents particular public interest; (9) includes symbols of great importance, in particular religious or cultural heritage, if it contains elements disgracing religious or moral values; (10) reproduces or includes elements which are identical with or which possess a confusingly resemblance with the images or official names of the cultural heritage of the Republic of Armenia or the international cultural heritage, or a confusingly resemblance with images of cultural values kept in funds and collections, where the registration is claimed in the name of a person who is not the proprietor thereof and does not hold a relevant authorization; (11) consists of or includes a geographical indication and has been filed for such goods, which are not originating from the area bearing this indication, if the use of that mark in the Republic of Armenia misleads the public as for the real origin of the goods. This provision shall also apply to the geographical indication which, despite that it indicates the real origin of the goods, nevertheless confuses the public so as if the goods originated from another area; (12) consists of or contains a geographical indication ascertaining wines, for wines not originated from the area bearing the geographical indication specified or a geographical indication ascertaining spirits, for spirits not originated from the area bearing the geographical indication specified, even if the real origin of the product is specified or the geographical indication is used in a translated version or in conjunction with such expressions as “sort”, “type”, “style”, “imitation” and similar to them.

Based on relative grounds – (1) a mark which is identical or confusingly similar to an earlier trademark, which is registered for the same goods and/or services; (2) is identical or similar to an earlier trademark and is to be registered for goods and/or services which are not similar to those goods and/or services, for which the earlier trademark is registered, in the case the earlier trademark has a reputation in the Republic of Armenia and if the use of the claimed trademark would lead to unfair advantages due to the distinctive feature or the reputation of the earlier trademark, or would be prejudicial to the distinctive feature or the reputation of the earlier trademark; (3) is identical or confusingly similar to the trade name of a person, which in the territory of the Republic of Armenia has acquired rights to that name prior to the date of application for the registration of the trademark or prior to the date of priority and which has, prior to that date, carried out actual activities in the field of production or services of the same or similar products (which the registration of the trademark has been applied for), where such identity or similarity will be prejudicial to the reputation of the trade name; (4) is identical or similar to a geographical indication or appellations of origin of goods protected in the Republic of Armenia, with the exception of cases when in the trademark, which is applied for registration, those goods are included as non-protected elements and the application is filed by a person authorized to use the geographical indication or the designation of origin of goods; (5) reproduces or includes, with an earlier date of priority, subject matters of industrial design, utility model or any other subject matters of Industrial Property protected in the Republic of Armenia; (6) reproduces or includes literary, scientific or artistic works protected under the Law on Copyright, the names thereof, quotations, extracts (fragments) and characters thereof, if the rights have been acquired before the date of priority of the filing trademark (if there is an existence of such priority date); (7) reproduces or includes the name, surname or pseudonym of a well-known person or a portrait of any other person where the similarity to them leads to confusion.

Priority: in accordance with the Paris Convention, or exhibition priority.

Classification: international. 

Multi-class applications: permitted. 

Territory covered: the Republic of Armenia.

Filing requirements for an application (to be sent to resident agent):
1. Power of attorney, signed by director/president/CEO of the company and certified with the company seal/stamp (if available). If signed by another authorized person, his/her authority must be notarized;
2. The sign to be protected, 10 prints (8 x 8 cm);
3. List of goods and services (in accordance with the International Classification);
4. Priority document (if priority is claimed), within three months from the filing date.

Electronic filing: available, however filing fees are not reduced. 

Electronic signatures: are not accepted (only wet signatures). Further, any original signed document must either be filed with the application or later within two months from the official notification date.

For a change of name:
1. A certified document (such as an extract from the Companies Register);
2. Power of attorney.

For a change of address:
1. Power of attorney with the new address. It must be signed by director/president/CEO of the company and certified with the company seal/stamp (if available). If signed by another authorized person the document must be notarized. Please note that the Notary Public must certify both the authenticity of the signer and his power to sign the document on behalf of the company according the Statute of the company. Legalization is not required.

Preliminary examination: conformity with formal requirements within ten days, after which decision on publication of the application and carrying out substantive examination is issued.

Publication of the application, third party remarks and oppositions: the State Authorized Body shall, on the basis of the decisions on publication of the application and carrying out substantive examination, within a period of one month following the day of the decision, publish the application in the “Industrial Property” Official Bulletin. Any person may, within a period of two months for national applications and six months for international marks following the publication of the application, present a written remark to the State Authorized Body against the registration of the claimed trademark, stating that its registration is subject to refusal on the grounds stated by Article 9 of this Law.

Substantive examination: distinctiveness, conformity with other registrability conditions, after which the decision of registration is issued within a three-month period.

Objection against the Patent Office decision: in case of disagreement with the examination decision, the applicant may file a request within two months for carrying out a repeated examination, after which filing of an appeal is possible within three months from the receipt of the decision, with the Board of Appeal of the Armenian IP Agency. The Appeal Board decision may be further opposed in the appropriate court procedure.

Corrections: upon applicant’s initiative, corrections are acceptable.

Amendments of application: additional materials modifying the application are accepted provided that the essential features of the trademark as filed are not changed.

Disclaimers: available. 

Letters of consent: can be accepted to overcome an objection based on an earlier registration, if trademarks are not identical but are confusingly similar. It must be signed by director/president/CEO of the company and certified with the company seal/stamp (if available). If signed by another authorized person the document must be notarized. Please note that the Notary Public must certify both the authenticity of the signer and his power to sign the document on behalf of the company according the Statute of the company. Legalization is not required.

Publication: the main trademark particulars are published in the Patent Office “Industrial Property” Official Gazette (if the appropriate fee is duly paid), and entered into the Trade Mark Register.

The certificate of registration is issued in paper format one month after the entry into the Register.

Duration: ten years from the filing date.

Extension: renewable for further ten-year periods. Grace period: six months.

Exclusive rights: belong to the owner of the registered mark.

Use: an interested third party may request the cancellation of a mark if it has not been used during three consecutive years after the registration date (to be filed before the court only).

May be considered as valid use: the use of trademarks, in a form not diverging essentially from the registered one, affixed to the product or its packaging, in printed documents, signboards, at exhibitions and fairs held in Armenia, on advertisements (only if use of the mark on goods or packaging is impossible), use by a licensee, exportation.

Marking: marking of a registered trademark with ® or TM is not obligatory and is up to the owner.

Right of prior user: no provision.

Opposition: possible during the entire period of validity, or in some cases, within a period of five years after publication (if a prior registration exists), provided the plaintiff justifies that they first knew about existence of such registration no more than two months before filing of the action.

Licenses: must be registered.

Compulsory license: no provision.

Assignment: must be registered.

Nullification: on basis of: prior registration, prior application, the mark becoming deceptive, non-use within three years, non-compliance with the conditions of trademark registrability, protection without registration according to International Treaties that Armenia participates in, turning of the mark into a commonly used mark for marking a certain type of goods, appellation of origin identical or confusingly similar to the trademark.

Infringement: unauthorized exploitation or any other kind of marketing of products bearing a protected sign constitutes infringement of the rights in a trademark. Penal provisions are provided for.