Intellectual Property Protection

A structured and functioning intellectual property protection system has been created in the Republic of Belarus. However, the copyright holder should take the lead in it. State bodies of the Republic of Belarus carry out independent actions rarely. Protection of intellectual property without the initiative of the copyright holder occurs only when violations can threaten the life or health of citizens, for example, fake alcohol or drugs. In all other cases, the protection of intellectual property rights in the Republic of Belarus should be initiated by the copyright holder.

It is also necessary to remember that the protection of intellectual property begins with the acquisition of rights to them. Of course, in some cases, there are ways to protect intellectual property without registration, for example, in the field of copyright, but it is harder.

Legal protection of intellectual property is varied as the intellectual property itself. Today, in Belarus the most popular properties for protection are copyrights, trademarks, patents and software.

Recently, the protection of intellectual property for software has become increasingly important due to increasing number of IT projects and startups in the Republic of Belarus resulting an increase of public relations in this area. This leads to disputes and conflicts between participants in these relations. In this case, first of all, it is necessary to establish authorship or, in other words, it is necessary to distinguish copyrights from a software product.

The protection of rights to intellectual property may be carried out at:

·       

• A court;

• Law-enforcement authorities;

• Customs

• Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade (MART);

• Board of Appeal at the National Center for Intellectual Property.

Legal defense. In Belarus, judicial protection of intellectual property rights is carried out in the collegium for intellectual property affairs of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus. Only in cases of counterfeit you can appeal to the general courts.

Protection in law enforcement authorities. You can appeal to police with a statement to take measures to suppress the current legislation if counterfeit goods with illegally applied trademarks were discovered.

Customs protection. In case of products marked with trademarks belonging to you or your partners are illegally imported into the customs territory of the Republic of Belarus, these trademarks must be entered into the customs register of intellectual property of the Republic of Belarus. After that, the customs authorities of the Republic of Belarus will independently monitor the movement of such products and, in case of detection, apply measures to detain and seize these products.

Defense at the Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade (MART). If your competitor carries out unscrupulous actions that contradict the accepted rules of business turnover, then legal protection of intellectual property (if it is the result of your creative activity) can be carried out by appealing to the MART. If a fact of violation of the antimonopoly legislation in the field of unfair competition is established, sanctions will be applied to the offender.

Defense in the board of appeal of the National Center for Intellectual Property. If someone registered a confusingly similar trademark, you can appeal to the board of appeal.

We are inviting you to visit our specialized sites on intellectual property: bvpatent.by and trademarks: trademarks.by.

Intellectual property can be protected independently, but if you contact the Beliaevs and Partners, we will be able to build and implement the most effective protection strategy, which will certainly save you time and money.