Myanmar passes Trademark and Industrial Design Laws
01 February 2019
Myanmar has finally passed the first of it's long awaited IP laws, according to lawyers from Kevin Chia Yangon, with the Trademark Law (Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No.3, 2019) and the Industrial Design Law (Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 2, 2019) passing into law on 30 January 2019.
The Trademark Law implements the "first-to-file" system, a significant from the previous "first-to-use" approach. Trademark owners who registered under the “first-to-use” system will need to register their marks under the current “first-to-file” system, the firm went on to say.
Although both laws are now on the statute books, they will only be effective upon the issuance by the President of Myanmar of a notification to this effect – and as such, their effect and implementation will continue to be deferred to a later date. There has been no indication yet on when this notification will be issued, although it is likely that this will happen only after the implementing mechanisms, such as the trademark registry, has been properly established.
