INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

Protection of Intellectual Property Rights - General Provisions

Intellectual property law in Kazakhstan undergoes serious development.

The Civil Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan provides for the following categories of intellectual property rights: (1) copyrights, (2) related rights, utility models and industrial designs, (4) selection achievement rights, (5) semiconductor topography rights, (6) rights to protection of undisclosed information, and (7) rights to means of identification of parties to civil law relations, goods and services.

Intellectual property rights are provisionally divided into two groups: (1) copyrights, which also often include related rights, and (2) industrial property rights (patent rights), which cover all other categories.

The government authority responsible for control and protection of intellectual property rights, including the function of registration of intellectual property items and property rights related thereto in the Republic of Kazakhstan is the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan (the “Ministry”).  The main mission of the Ministry is to implement the government policy on protection of intellectual property rights and to ensure development of the single patent system of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

In addition, a new body, the National Institute of Intellectual Property, a national public enterprise with the right of economic management (the “NIIP”) was set up to perform expertise functions in the fields identified as government monopoly (provision of industrial property protection services).

Kazakhstan is a party to a number of international property agreements:

  • Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (20 March 1883);
  • Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks (14 April 1891);Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks of 27 March 2006;
  • Trademark Law Treaty of 27 October 1994;
  • 6 September 1952 Universal Copyright Convention as revised in Paris on 24 July 1971;
  • Nice Agreement concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for Registration of Marks (15 June 1957);
  • Stockholm Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (14 July 1967);
  • Locarno Agreement Establishing an International Classification for Industrial Designs (8 October 1968);
  • Washington Patent Cooperation Treaty (19 June 1970);
  • Strasbourg Agreement Concerning the International Patent Classification (24 March 1971);
  • Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Work (24 July 1971);
  • Geneva Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms Against Unauthorized Duplication of their Phonograms (18-29 October 1971);
  • Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure (28 April 1977); and
  • Eurasian Patent Convention (Moscow, 9 September 1994).

The primary legislative acts (apart from the Civil Code) of the Republic of Kazakhstan governing intellectual property matters are:

–   Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan On Copyright and Related Rights of 10 June 1996;

–   Patent Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan of 16 July 1999;

–   Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan On Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin of Goods of 26 July 1999;

–   Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan On Legal Protection of Semiconductor Topographies of 29 June 2001; and

–   Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan On Protection of Selection Achievements of 13 July 1999.

Rights to intellectual property arise from the fact of its creation or as a result of the provision of legal protection by the competent government authority.

Copyrights and Related Rights

The Kazakhstan Law On Copyrights and Related Rights of 10 June 1996 protects works of science, literature and art (copyright), as well as productions, performances, phonograms, and TV and radio broadcasting or cablecast organizations (related rights).  Copyright protection is granted to an author without registration requirement.  An author may assign the rights to use a copyrighted work.  A copyright is protected for the lifetime of the author plus seventy years.

Computer programs and databases are protected under the Kazakhstan Law On Copyright and Related Rights of 10 June 1996.  The production of computer programs unlawfully altering existing programs and providing unauthorised access to protected computer information entails criminal and civil liability.

Inventions, Utility Models, Industrial Designs and Selection Achievements

Patent protection is granted to an invention if it is new, involves an inventive step and is industrially applicable.  A patent certifies the priority, authorship and exclusive right to an industrial property.  A patent for an invention is granted for twenty years from the date of application filing.

Patent protection is granted to a utility model if it is new and original.  A patent for a utility model is valid for a term of five years from the date of application filing which may be extended for an additional term of maximum three years at the request of the patent holder.

An industrial design is granted legal protection if it is new, original and industrially applicable.  A patent for an industrial design is granted for a term of fifteen years from the date of application filing which may be extended for an additional term of maximum five years at the request of the patent holder.

A selection achievement is granted legal protection if it is new, distinct, uniform and stable.

Patents may be assigned or licensed by authors to individuals and/or legal entities.  To be valid, an assignment or license agreement must be registered.  Infringement of the rights of patent holders entails civil and criminal liability.  It should be noted that, in the past, the infringement of any copyrights and related rights entailed also administrative liability.  However, due to criminalization of this offence, starting from 2015, the liability for such offence is regulated only by the Criminal Code.

Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin of Goods

The right to a trademark or service mark is based on its registration, and may also be protected without registration in accordance with applicable international treaties which the Republic of Kazakhstan is a party to.

Trademark and service mark registration is granted for a term of ten years, renewable every ten years.  Assignments or license agreements granting the right to use trademarks must be registered.

Designation of origin is registered for an indefinite term subject to the condition that the specific qualities of a product manufactured in a respective geographic area are maintained.  The right to use the names of protected designation of origin is valid for ten years from the date of submitting an application to expert organization and each time is extended for ten years at the owner’s request made during the last year of its validity subject to the condition that the specific qualities of the product with respect to which the designation of origin was registered are maintained.

Legal protection is provided to appellations of origin of goods upon their registration with the NIIP.  The registered owner of an appellation of origin of goods may not grant licenses to use the appellation of origin of goods.

Infringement of the rights of registered owners of trademarks and appellations of origin rights entails civil, criminal and administrative liability.

Protection of Integrated Circuit Topographies

Legal protection applies only to original topographies (layout designs).  Topography is original if it is the result of the author’s creative work and is deemed original until proved otherwise.

The author of a topology is a natural person whose creative work resulted in its creation.

The author of a topology or another rightholder may register a topology by filing an application for registration within two years after the date of the first use of the topology, if such use took place.

The exclusive right to a topography/topology may be assigned, in full or in part, to another person under a license agreement.

The exclusive right to a topology is valid for a period of ten years after the date of the topology registration.

Intellectual Property in the EAEU

On 8 September 2015, in Grodno, Belarus, the Heads of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) Member States signed the Agreement on the Coordination of Actions for the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in the Member States of the Eurasian Economic Union which entered into force on 19 July 2016.

On 11 December 2017, the EAEU Member States signed the Agreement on Collective Management of Copyrights and Related Rights.

Besides, on 3 February 2020, the EAEU Member States signed the Treaty on Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin of the EAEU Goods which will enter into force from the beginning of 2021.