缅甸没有商标法!怎么办？

缅甸，即缅甸联邦共和国，位于亚洲东南部，近年来，中缅贸易发展迅速，投资合作方式多元化，中国已成为缅甸最大的贸易伙伴。在商品服务出口缅甸前，中国企业因为知识产权保护意识的提升，纷纷提前布局缅甸商标注册，然而，缅甸尚未加入巴黎公约、马德里协定及其议定书，更无商标法正式实施。如何在这样的国家保护自己的商标权利？针对众多企业的困惑，宁海在缅甸的合作伙伴Ho Vinh Thinh律师为我们解答了几个常见问题：

1.问：缅甸有商标注册吗，如何注册？

答：原文Up to now, there is still no legislation in Myanmar giving a proprietary right to a mark upon registration and regulating the use and enforcement of trademark in Myanmar. However, in practice, trademarks are registered under the Registration Act by filing a Declaration of Ownership [Trademark Declaration]. Such registered Trademark Declaration is considered as "Registration". The "Registration" alone does not give the declarant (registrant) the right to ownership. The first use and development of economic value of the trademark are important consideration. However, registration provides the declarant with the corroborative evidence of use if action has to be taken in the courts of law regarding ownership. In addition, the registration is a relevant evidence for purpose of determining the date since which the declarant had intended to claim his trademark.

翻译：目前为止，缅甸尚无正式的商标法规，也无法赋予商标专用权，但实践中，申请人向官方登记处递交商标声明书，登记后视为所谓的”注册”。仅仅登记式的“注册”不足以赋予商标专用权，商标的在先使用以及使用产生的经济价值也是实现商标权利的重要部分。如有纠纷诉诸法庭，这种登记式“注册”是可作为有效使用证据的，其“注册”日期也用于判定注册人从何时开始在缅甸声明商标权利。

2.问：缅甸商标注册需要什么材料？

答：原文For the registration of trademark in Myanmar, the following documents are required:

a Power of Attorney needs to be notarized and diplomatically attested at the Myanmar Embassy or Consulate in your country as well. Please be very noted that the both requirements by the notarization and consulate are required .

the Declaration of Ownership needs only the signature of the responsible official of the applicant who signed on the Power of Attorney.

翻译：注册缅甸商标需要如下材料：

委托书，签署后公证及领事认证，两程序缺一不可。

商标声明书，签署后公证，签署人需与委托书签署人一致。

3.问：缅甸商标登记的程序如何？

答：原文To define the registration of trademark, the Myanmar Registry will endorse the Declaration with the trademark registration number and granting date and return it to the trademark owner. The Myanmar Registry does not issue a certificate of trademark registration.Normally, the average time from filing up to the registration will be about [3] month.

翻译：缅甸当地官方登记处会在申请人递交的商标声明书上签署，赋予注册号和注册日期，然后归还原件，登记处不会另行制作注册证下发，通常登记程序在3个月左右。

4.问：除了官方登记，是否还有其他保护措施？

答：原文Cautionary notice.The registration is not complete solution to protect of trademark in Myanmar. So, the publication of Trademark Cautionary Notice in local newspaper should be done after the registration of trademark. The purpose of publishing a Cautionary Notice is to inform the public about the registration and claim to ownership and warning against the potential infringement. In addition, the publication of a Cautionary Notice is necessary since the Registry Office does not allow searches by third parties, therefore the only way for the public to know about the trademark ownership are through Cautionary Notice. The publication of Cautionary Notice together with registration will strengthen the trademark ownership in case disputes or passing-off action. However, the publication of a Cautionary Notice is NOT mandatory by any law. It is an established practice in Myanmar.

The estimated cost for publishing a Cautionary Notice depends on kind of newspaper on which the Cautionary Notice is to be published and the size of the space required.

翻译：有，商标公告，在缅甸仅仅登记不能视为完整的保护策略，应该在当地报刊上追加刊登公告。公告的目的是告知公众我们的商标权，以及警告有可能发生的侵权行为。此外，公告的另一个必要性在于缅甸当局的登记资料是不接受第三方查询的，唯一一个让公众知晓我们商标权的方式就是报刊公告。公告会增强商标的保护效力，尤其是在仿冒之诉中有重要作用，虽然不是法定程序，但却是缅甸当地约定俗成的做法。

刊登的费用取决于在哪类报刊上进行公告，以及公告所占版面。

5.问：缅甸商标可以查询吗？

答：原文Please be informed that the search report is our private search only, not issued officially. Our private searches were conducted based on publication of the Cautionary Notices in all daily newspaper and most of the journals, which is updated from 1982 until now. So, such private searches are only helpful to the trademark owners up to an extent of trustworthy decision on whether to proceed with the application for registration of a subject mark by the established fact that registered trademarks are usually followed by publication of the Cautionary Notice in the local English newspapers. However, the publication of Cautionary Notice is not compulsory by any law in Myanmar. That is why the private searches cannot guarantee the registrability of searched trademarks. Therefore, the private searches are considered as relative ground before the filing.

翻译：缅甸商标检索并无官方库，只是民间资料检索，基于1982年至今的各类报刊刊登过的商标公告。这种检索的默认条件是商标登记后都会进行后续报刊刊登，从而用检索结果为申请人提供决策。事实上刊登并非法定的必经程序，因此民间库资料并不齐全，检索也不能保证效力，仅供参考。

6.问：如何续展缅甸商标？

答：原文Although indeed, the renewal is the re-registration of trademark and there is no statutory requirements for renewal, we normally suggest the client to use the “Declaration of Ownership for renewal of trademark” which includes the information of the previous registrations three years ago in order to protect effectively their trademark rights in case of dispute, infringement, passing off before the court. 

翻译：目前而言续展实际就是重新申请一次，官方并没有法定的要求，我们建议使用“续展声明书”格式，在声明书中提及三年前的老注册，以此更有效地保护商标权，防止争议、侵权、仿冒。

● 综上，缅甸本身商标法律法规存在缺陷，商标权难以得到完善的保护，商标所有人就应更加重视，在缅甸正式实施商标法前，采用当地的通行惯例，穷尽可行的方式，注册登记加报刊刊登，每三年追加续展及报刊刊登，尽可能全面地保护商标权利。