Revised Rules of Dispute Resolution Committee of the Intellectual Property Office of Mongolia come into force (part 1)

In 2018 the Government of Mongolia has adopted a new revised structure of government agencies, pursuant to which General Authority for Intellectual property and State registration has divided into two separate agencies, General Authority for State registration and Intellectual Property Office of Mongolia, with their own separate functions. Due to this division Intellectual Property Office of Mongolia (IPOM) has started to renew its internal structure and some rules and regulations, in particular Rules of Dispute Resolution Committee. In connection with this, activities of Dispute Resolution Committee of IPOM have been suspended sine die.

On February 13th, 2019 by the order of the Minister of Justice and Home affairs No. A/26 a revised Rules of Dispute Resolution Committee (Committee) of IPOM was adopted and new members of the Committee were appointed. In this article we will highlight main differences between old and new Rules of the Committee and new additions to the Rules.

Pursuant to old Rules chairman and secretary of the Committee were appointed by the Head of IPOM, and members of the Committee were appointed every time when a decision to initiate a dispute resolution case was carried out. And number of members to be appointed were not specified. Pursuant to new Rules the Committee is a non-permanent division and will consist of 11 regular members. By the order of the Minister of Justice and Home affairs No. A/26 dated February 13th, 2019 regular members of the Committee were appointed, and the Committee consists of chairman, secretary and 9 members. The Committee is distinctive because it now includes not only IPOM specialists and inspectors, but also specialist from Ministry of Justice and Home affairs, law school professor and IPOM researcher.

Under new Rules the Committee shall not accept and resolve disputes regarding claims for incurred damages and claims of compensation (payment) for using protected invention as specified in paragraph 28.1 of Article 28 of Law on Patents. Whereas under old Rules the Committee did not resolve requests to recognize the trademark is a well-known trademark, as specified in paragraph 32.1.4 of Article 32 of Law on Trademarks and Geographical indications, now under new Rules it is possible to submit such requests to the Committee.

Under old Rules requests and complaints were submitted in writing to the Committee, and chairman of the Committee carried out a decision whether to initiate a dispute resolution case or not within 14 days from date of submission. Pursuant to new Rules requests and complaints are submitted in writing to chairman of the Committee. Chairman of the Committee shall transfer requests and complaints to one of the members of the Committee for review within 5 business days from date of submission. The member of the Committee shall review and present his/her suggestions and comments to chairman of the Committee within 10 business days from date of receipt. Chairman of the Committee based on suggestions and comments of the member of the Committee shall carry out a decision whether to initiate a dispute resolution case or not.

Before, dispute resolution cases were resolved within 6 months as specified in Law on Patents and Law on Trademarks and Geographical indications, whereas now this period has significantly shortened. New Rules provide for that dispute resolution cases must be resolved within 30 days from date of decision to initiate a case is carried out, and if additional procedures and measures are necessary then this period may be extended once for up to 30 days by chairman of the Committee.

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