Mongolia has enacted several laws in order to implementing the policies to protect and promote intellectual property, namely Law on Patent, Law on Copyright and Related Rights, Law on Trademarks and Geographical Indications, Law on Innovation and Law on Technology Transfer.
There has been criticism that these laws mainly regulated the protection of intellectual property by the state, but they did not establish a framework for protection of intellectual property in an economic context allowing for the full range of business profit. For instance, intellectual property is protected by patent and trademark pursuant to relevant laws, but the ability of the rights holder to benefit from the intellectual property, by pledging and selling intellectual property rights to legal entities, assigning them to a third party is harmed due to weak economic value.
Therefore, Law on Intellectual Property was newly approved on January 23, 2020, with the aim of increasing the economic value of intellectual property in Mongolia. This law will come into force on December 1, 2020.
The law is expected to clarify the legal rights and authorities of government agencies at various levels in connection with active intellectual property protection and enforcement, including expanding on the rights and duties of Intellectual Property inspectors in charge of investigating alleged infringement.
At the same time, the law provides greater detail as to role and responsibility of intellectual property agents and brokers which assist IP owners in registering and protecting their IP in Mongolia.
The new law will also expand on the economic rights of Intellectual Property owners, including evaluation and assessment of IP rights, and the extent of state support for economic uses of IP.
Finally, the law aims to reform structure and function of the national Intellectual Property registry, as well as the dispute resolution system for IP related disputes.
With the entry into force of this law, it is expected that it will be easier to put intellectual property into economic circulation; and the intellectual property valuation and mediation will be more reliable; and the activities of the intellectual property organization will be more stable and normal.