The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, to which Mongolia joined in 1985, provides that the countries of the Union undertake, ex officio if their legislation so permits, or at the request of an interested party, to refuse or to cancel the registration, and to prohibit the use, of a trademark which constitutes a reproduction, an imitation, or a translation, liable to create confusion, of a mark considered by the competent authority of the country of registration or use to be well known in that country as being already the mark of a person entitled to the benefits of this Convention and used for identical or similar goods.
These provisions shall also apply when the essential part of the mark constitutes a reproduction of any such well–known mark or an imitation liable to create confusion therewith. Accordingly, Article 3.1.3 of the Law on Trademark and geographical indication defines the well-known mark as “the well-known trademark in the respective sector of Mongolia and the one, which does not require any IP registration. Within its duty for drafting and adoption of the Regulation concerning the IP-related matters, the Intellectual property office of Mongolia adopted a “Regulation concerning the IP-related matters, on the determination of the trademark as being well-known” on 08th April 2014.
It is important to note that the Regulation applies only within the territory of Mongolia and covers the trademarks /it may be both national and international ones/ that are well-known to the general public of Mongolia. Those companies interested in settling the question whether their trademark may be considered to belong to this category, they shall file a request to the Dispute settlement committee of the Intellectual property office of Mongolia.