"Official fees for patents and trademarks streamlined" by Tatiana Petrova

 New article: Official fees for patents and trademarks streamlined.

February 10 2014

On December 31 2013 a new law regarding amendments to the Tax Code of Belarus - the Law of the
Republic of Belarus No 96-3 of December 31 2013 - was approved. On January 1 2014 this law became
effective.
In accordance with the amended Tax Code, Belarus streamlined the official fees applied by its Patent and
Trademark Office, and the official fees for domestic applicants and foreign applicants became the same.
This resulted in multiple increases in official fees for domestic applicants. However, the official fees for
foreign applicants remained at the same level or decreased slightly. In particular:

• l the fee for filing a trademark application in one class decreased from $600 to $450;
• l the registration fee remained the same at $200; and
• l the renewal fee remained the same at $800.

The fine for late renewal of a trademark decreased from $400 to $200. However, the filing fee for each
additional class increased from $40 to $50 and became applicable to each additional class above one,
instead of each additional class above four as stipulated in the previous law.
According to the new law, the official fees are established in US dollars. Applicants who are residents of the
Republic of Belarus must pay the official fees in Belarusian roubles at the official rate of the National Bank of
the Republic of Belarus applicable at the date of payment. Foreign applicants may pay the official fees in
foreign currency (US dollars, euros, Swiss francs or Russian roubles). Belarusian trademark and patent
attorneys who represent foreign clients may also pay the official fees in foreign currency. The amount of
the fees is determined using the cross-rate, calculated on the basis of the official exchange rates of the
Belarusian rouble in respect of the relevant foreign currencies, established by the Belarus National Bank at
the payment date.
The individual fees for trademark registration in the territory of the Republic of Belarus in accordance with the
Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks and the Madrid Protocol remain
unchanged.

Tatiana Petrova, Sojuzpatent, Moscow

This article first appeared on WTR Daily, part of World Trademark Review, in (02/2014). For further information, please go to www.worldtrademarkreview.com