Tag Archives: Intellectual Property

Mongolia is Introducing E-Filing System for Intellectual Property



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The Mongolian Government’s Action Plan for 2016-2020 aims that the state functions have been introduced the online system for establishing reliable, accessible and express public services based on paperless services. The most ultimate source is that the article 8 of Patent law sets forth the filing an electronic application for invention, industrial design or innovation.

 

In April 26, 2018 as the World Intellectual Property Day, IPOM publish (Online Data system) and E-Filing (Online Filing System) were introduced for developing the use of the intellectual property database and facilitating the filing process for IP rights.

 

Above-mentioned systems allow to register the invention electronically and obtain electronic information on patents and trademarks.

 

In today’s highly developed IT platform, the filing electronic application for IP rights and the obtaining of patent information for the research work are an important part of saving time and paper. Furthermore, the researchers, inventors and producers are able to find the similar researches with their research work in online Intellectual Property database. It will definitely helpful to develop more competitive way of creating the inventions as well as avoiding any risks in the future.

Issues with Effective IP Enforcement Actions in Mongolia



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Several clients in recent months have contacted the firm requesting assistance in tracking down and stopping intellectual property infringers in Mongolia. After working closely on many of these cases, our Mongolian Attorneys and licensed Intellectual Property specialists are among the forefront of the Mongolian IP enforcement practice in Mongolia. Our team has a few key insights that those doing business in Mongolia should be aware of.

In Mongolia, the systems for investigation and resolution of IP infringement issues is relatively unsophisticated. IP infringement cases often are not able to be resolved or punished effectively due to a lack in the number of state inspectors and the resulting workload for those inspectors who are on the job. Only a few State Inspectors handle IP issues, and such inspectors are obliged to inspect shops or markets selling infringing goods throughout Ulaanbaatar in accordance with the specific demands of each case. It is often very difficult for the state inspectors to identify possible infringers. State inspectors will normally punish known infringers identified during an IP enforcement action by warnings, confiscation of infringing goods, and fines for repeat offenses. General lack of education in Mongolia account IP and the limited effectiveness of such examinations result in infringing products for which sales have been shut down at a particular market showing up again for sale elsewhere at a different shop or different market.

Another problem is that the estimation of intangible asset related damages caused by IP infringement is not clear and is not well defined or regulated under law. Though the law says such damages will be settled under applicable regulations and administrative acts, regulation applicable to estimation of intangible asset related damages caused by IP infringement is unclear in Mongolia. The complaint regarding intangible asset associated damages cannot be resolved properly under such procedure. In fact, it is very few cases which filed complaint concerning the said infringement with IP office and there is no good practice on this issue.

The Mongolian government needs to pay attention on eliminating violations of intellectual property rights and properly compensating damages caused by IP infringement.  Those seeking effective IP enforcement in Mongolia need to come prepared with a large amount of investigation preformed and research compiled ready to be presented in a complaint to the IP Office, and should have a clearly documented and easily calculatable claim for damages caused due to the alleged infringement.

 

New Law Needed to Protect Internet Domain Names as Intellectual Property



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Many companies wish to utilize a national top level domain in their online “URL” to indicate that the company, and products or services offered are local to a specific country. For example, a Mongolian company may utilize “.mn” to indicate to the world it is based in Mongolia, while an international company may establish a separate “.mn” website to target the Mongolia market.

Datacom LLC, a Mongolian company, holds the right to issue “.mn” domain name and has been doing so since 1996. Also, Erdemnet issues “edu.mn” domain name for educational organizations and National Data Center issues “gov.mn” domain name for government organizations.

Currently, there is a domain name registration system operated by the the National Data Center. However, there are many violations of the domain registration process because there is no legislation regarding registration and use of domain names in Mongolia. Many in the Mongolia IT sector have advocated for such a law as it is required to establish the legal basis for registering, possessing and using domain names. Having such law is also critical to avoid and mitigate potential for intellectual property rights infringement.

Illegal circulation of intellectual property in the internet or electronic environment is widespread. In particular, copyright ingringement, namely the music and film are widely copied illegally and available online.

Both the General Authority for Intellectual Property and the State Registration and Communications Regulatory Commission of Mongolia fight againt the copyright’s infringement in the internet and have authority to shut down the domain names which are found to use or make available intellectual property without constant of the owners. However, there is a continous cycle in which a site which finds it’s domain name shut-down quickly re-openeds and posts copyrighted contend under a new domain name. A formal domain name law would help to stop this process.

The Mongolian Parliament adopted the Resolution /No.11/, “List of Laws and Regulations need to be updated by 2020” on 12 January, 2017. According to the resolution, Law on Domain Names is scheduled to be enacted in the near future.

Franchising in Mongolia: Licensing your IP



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This is the third part of our look at the uses of intellectual property in Mongolian franchises. You can find the first part here, and the second part here. We will discuss the use of licensing agreements as part of franchise IP management.

While in general, franchisors do own their intellectual property, this is not always strictly the case. In many franchise businesses, trademarks and other intellectual property elements may instead be owned by a parent company or even an affiliated company. In such cases, intellectual property is usually licensed from the legal entity that owns it to the franchisor, which then has the right to sell franchises and sub-license the use of intellectual property to the franchisees.

If the franchise agreement has been properly drafted, then this licensing/sub-licensing relationship between parent company or affiliated entity and the franchisor will be reflected in the wording of the agreement. There are quite a few places in a franchise agreement where special care must be given to properly set out who actually owns trademarks and other intellectual property if the franchisor itself is not their owner.

Pursuant to the Law on Trademarks and Geographical Indications, any licensing agreement is subject to state registration with intellectual property authority, otherwise such licensing agreement is deemed invalid.

Whenever someone uses, without permission, a trademark (sometimes even a trade dress) that is the same as or confusingly similar to that of a franchise system, that is a case of trademark infringement. It is becoming increasingly common to find the look, feel and design of one franchise business being copied elsewhere. In some of these cases, there is clearly an intent to pass off the copycat operation as a franchise.

A strong franchise system depends on a strong brand and must therefore protect its trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets and trade dress. For these reasons, franchisors need to spend a lot of time, attention and money to maintain, improve and protect their intellectual property. Their franchisees, in turn, will benefit from a strong protection strategy, as it ensures the rights for which they have paid, over the stated term.

Franchising in Mongolia: Intellectual Property is More than Trademarks



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In the first part of this series we have discussed about trademarks as part of franchise system. In this part we will discuss about other elements of intellectual property that may be utilized in franchise system.

Other critical element of intellectual property in franchise systems are copyrights. Pursuant to law copyright protects the fixation of the expression of an idea in a tangible form, whether written, verbal, graphical or other objective forms. Copyright exists in a variety of items commonly used by a franchise: training videos, marketing material, ads, websites, music, logos and software. There is significant value to the copyright-protected materials incorporated into a franchise system and, like trademarks, these elements are licensed by the franchisor to the franchisee for use in the franchised business. And, unlike trademarks, copyrights do not have to be registered in order to be protected.

Trade dress is what makes a franchise system unique and distinctive from others, including the overall visual look, feel and impression of a location. Some part of trade dress may be protected by copyrights.

Not all franchises involve trade secrets (i.e. confidential information), but it is typical to see franchise systems maintaining some aspects of their operations as strictly confidential and maintained as trade secrets. In Mongolia there is no law that regulates specifically trade secrets or business aspects of trade secrets. However pursuant to Law on Corporate secret, any corporate information, document, research, method, solution, project and etc. which holds economic value may be considered confidential corporate secret (trade secret) and may be protected from divulgence. In the context of the franchise arrangement, the need and desire to share information with franchisees competes with the legal necessity of limiting the distribution of true trade secret material. Reasonable steps to ensure the identification and protectability of trade secrets include: confidentiality or non-disclosure agreements and clauses; marking of claimed trade secret material, limiting the distribution to “need to know”, password protected computer systems and databases, and locks on cabinets and doors. In some cases, a franchisor’s trade secrets are not even divulged to the franchisee, such as the specific recipes or bulk ingredients required to create a quick-service restaurant chain’s signature sauces.

Patents are usually not included in franchise systems, but they can be. Patent registrations are intended to protect an inventor’s rights to specific inventions, such as a newly engineered product, medical device, drug or other innovation. Unless a franchise system has specifically developed its own equipment, it generally will not include any patents within its intellectual property.

It is very important for franchisor, as well as franchisee, to take the time to fully analyze and review any franchise agreement, disclosure document and respective attachments before signing them. While the above information serves as a general overview, as always, one should seek their own legal advice when reviewing a franchise agreement. Only then it is possible to obtain specific information and recommendations relevant to particular circumstances.

Establishing a Mongolian Franchise Business: Protect Your Intellectual Property



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In a recent blog post we discussed the franchise business model and it’s rapid growth in Mongolia. In a new three-part article series, we will dive deeper into franchise agreements in Mongolia and look at intellectual property, which is one of the most important aspects of a franchise system, and its importance.

Intellectual property law and business law have many areas that overlap. Franchising, in particular, is a unique business model, with the franchisor’s intellectual property at its core.

As such, intellectual property is one of the most important elements of any franchise. Within the franchise agreement, one of the core assets and rights that franchisor will be granting to franchisees will be a license permitting a franchisee to utilize their intellectual property and, in turn, franchisor is declaring to a franchisee that franchisor owns the intellectual property and will protect and defend it. So, it is important for franchisor to make sure that they actually own and can protect intellectual property that they are purportedly licensing to franchisees. Especially, when entering into a franchise agreement with franchisee, who will operate in another country.

These days most people are familiar with the term “intellectual property”, but not everyone understands the differences between various types of it. Intellectual property may include trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, trade dress (i.e. the look, feel and distinctive elements of a franchise system, such as the interior design, layout and other visual aspects of a franchise location) and sometimes patents under which franchise businesses operate.

Trademarks are perhaps the most commonly recognized and well-known element of intellectual property. The Mongolia Law on Trademarks and Geographical Indications defines trademarks as expressions with distinction, which are used by legal entity or individual in order to distinguish their products or services from that of others. Trademarks can include business names, taglines, service names, logo designs and specific color or color combinations, etc. They are among the visual components of a franchise business.

Just because franchisor has used their trademark for many years it does not mean that trademark is legally protectable nor that they own it. First, franchisor needs to properly register their trademark with intellectual property authority. Secondly, if franchisor is entering into franchise agreement with franchisee, who will operate in another country, franchisor needs to register their trademark in the country where franchisee will operate as well. This way franchisor asserts their ownership of trademark and ensures protection of their trademark from other infringers (such as copycats and confusingly similar marks).

Using Customs Seizure to Stop Import of Infringing Products to Mongolia



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Our firm’s Mongolian intellectual property lawyers have seen a lot of inquires in recent months from clients seeking assistance regarding counterfeit products which were being sold in Mongolia.

There are several mechanisms our Mongolian lawyers recommend to deal with counterfeit products in Mongolia.  One of the most important of these is utilizing Customs to restrict entry of counterfeit products or goods infringing registered trademarks from entering Mongolia.

This works by seizing infringing goods at Customs upon attempted entry into Mongolia. Before this may be done, the authentic goods bearing a validly registered Mongolian Trademark must be registered with Customs.

This registration process is relatively easy, requiring documentation of the registered trademarks, basic information regarding the trademark owner, a description of the products, and a list of items requested to be reviewed and protected by Customs. Our Mongolian lawyers will walk you through the process. The review procedure will talk approximately 30 days from the date of submission of the application, after which, the registered information will be forwarded to Customs entry points around Mongolia.

A written request for seizure of infringing goods, must be submitted along with a small cash deposit or bank guarantee. The customs office prefers having the deposit to avoid incurring any damages to importer before starting examination of infringing goods based on the original goods with customs registration.

Our Mongolian lawyers and clients have found such Customs seizures to be effective at blocking incoming shipments of infringing products. However it is important to note the applicant seeking to block the shipments must have a valid, registered Mongolian trademark in order to support such action by Customs.

Franchising Proves Effective for Many Foreign Brands in Mongolia



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There are numerous tools a business may use to grow and expand, not just locally but also globally. Franchising is one of the many ways through which brand owners can rapidly grow their businesses and expand profits while delegating much of the cost and risk to a third party.

Franchising is commonly used in a wide variety of service oriented businesses, such as restaurants, hotels, health care, real estate and others, and is also used production and distribution of products. In Mongolia for example, over the last few years many global brands entered Mongolia via a franchise arraignment. Major brands to do so include Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Ramada Hotels, Shangri-La Hotels, Cosmopolitan, Re/max real estate, KFC, Burger King, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Pizza Hut, Emart to name only a few. This strategy is chosen very deliberately due to the low risk of bankruptcy, and a higher chance of success for business to enter a franchising agreement. Research shows that an average consumer in the world spends one of every three dollars on product or service provided via a franchise model, demonstrating the economic significance of franchising.

In a franchise arrangement, the franchising party or Franchisor gives the Franchisee permission to not only use the Franchisor’s intellectual properties (trademarks, brand name, know how, goodwill, copyright, etc.) but also the Franchisor’s business operations system. In addition, Franchisees often benefit from the Franchisor’s distribution systems and marketing campaigns to sell the Franchisee’s products or services. In return, the Franchisee pays the Franchisor consistent fees and royalties, providing a steady stream of income for the Franchisor.

The franchise model provides several benefits for both the Franchisor and the Franchisee. Along with other benefits franchise agreements allow Franchisor companies to expand much more quickly than they could otherwise. A lack of funds and workers can cause a company to grow slowly. Through Franchising, a company invests very little capital or labor because the Franchisee supplies both. The Franchisor company experiences rapid growth with little financial risk.

The Franchisee also has numerous advantages that come from entering a franchising agreement. There is a low risk for the Franchisee due to the tried and tested formula. Franchisee gets the benefit of owning a proven business formula that has been tested and shown to work well in other locations. In addition, the Franchisee gets training and head office support from the Franchisor; this may be essential if the Franchisee is new to running a business and has no experience or business knowledge. And in a broader sense, global franchising is beneficial for the local government and economy as well, because jobs are created, and ownership remains local.

There are three major types of franchises – business format, product, and manufacturing – and each operates in a different way.

In business format franchises (which are the most common type), a company expands by supplying independent business owners with an established business, including use of its name and trademark. The Franchisor company generally assists the independent owners considerably in launching and running their businesses. In return, the business owners pay fees and royalties. In most cases, the Franchisee also buys supplies from the Franchisor. Fast food restaurants are good examples of this type of franchise. Prominent examples include KFC, Burger King, and Pizza Hut.

With product franchises, manufactures control how retail stores distribute their products. Through this kind of agreement, manufacturers allow retailers to distribute their products and to use the manufacturer’s name and trademarks. To obtain these rights, store owners must pay fees or buy a minimum amount of product for sale. In Mongolia there are several clothing retail stores that utilize this type of franchise, for example, United colors of Benetton stores, and Mango stores.

Through manufacturing franchises, a Franchisor grants a manufacturer the right to produce and sell products using its name and trademark. This type of franchise is common among food and beverage companies. For example, soft drink bottlers often obtain Franchise rights from soft drink companies to produce, bottle, and distribute soft drinks. For example, MCS Coca-Cola LLC obtained Franchise rights to produce, bottle and distribute soft drinks of the Coca-Cola company in Mongolia.

There are four basic types of franchise agreements: single-unit, multi-unit, area development and master franchising agreements.

A single-unit franchise agreement is the most common and is simply where a Franchisor grants a Franchisee rights to open and operate one single Franchise unit. In Mongolia, explicit examples are Caffé Bene, a coffeehouse chain, or Re/max, a real estate agency. All single units of these chains use the same trademark and same utilize the business operations system of the Franchisor. However, every single unit in Mongolia is owned by a different local company.

A multi-unit franchise agreement is where a Franchisor grants a Franchisee rights to open more than one franchise unit. For example, Tavan Bogd Foods LLC has multi-unit franchise rights to operate KFC restaurants in Mongolia, and Max Center LLC has multi-unit franchise rights to operate Burger King restaurants.

An area development agreement allows a Franchisee the right to open multiple units over an agreed amount of time within a specified geographic location and/or to own rights to their specific territory and earn money on each franchise sold in their territory through sharing of the franchise fee and ongoing royalties.

A master franchise agreement, also referred to as sub-franchising, gives a Franchisee the same rights as an area development agreement but also gives that Franchisee rights to establish franchises arrangements with other individuals or entities within the specified territory. A Master Franchisee assumes many of the tasks and obligations of the Franchisor such as training and support and receives a portion of the franchise fee and royalties. While technically there are significant differences there are times that master franchising and area development are used interchangeably.

The regulation of franchising varies country to country. While some countries have adopted separate franchising laws, many countries do not have a separate law that regulates franchising in its entirety. In most countries franchising is regulated in their commercial laws, commercial codes or civil codes, and in some countries it falls under regulation of several laws. In Mongolia franchise arrangements are regulated via Articles 333 – 338 of the Civil Code. The Civil Code provides the definition of a Franchise Agreement, and outlines the legal obligations and liabilities of the parties, terms of agreement, and non-competition terms. Intellectual property related aspects of a franchise agreement shall be regulated by relevant intellectual property laws.

It seems clear that franchising model in Mongolia is poised to continue to grow, as several global brands have announced their opening in Mongolia in the near future. Of course, prior to any franchise arrangement in Mongolia, a foreign business should seek out qualified advice from their Mongolian lawyer.

Mongolia to Amend Law on Patents



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Law on Patent was adopted initially in 1993 to facilitate the legalization of the ownership rights of the industrial design, the patent, the utility models and the certificate holders; to regulate relations arising out of their use; and to facilitate them into economic circulation. The Law on Patent was amended in 1996, 1999 and revised in 2006 in connection with social and economic reform.

With the development of technological developments, innovation of Industrial designs, utility model and patent and their scope of applications are growing rapidly.

Thus, innovators and entrepreneurs are keen to produce value-added products, as well as to focus on foreign markets and business development.

In Mongolia, the number of patent applications is steadily increasing, with 70% of 1555 applications filed for patent the last 6 years (2010-2016), 94% of 1817 applications for industrial designs, and 80% of 1065 applications for utility models have been issued.

Patents grant with exclusive rights in the territory. In Mongolia, 16 patents were filed under Patent Cooperation Agreement in 2008-2016

However, in practice, the enforcement of laws is inadequate due to failure of regulations that need to be regulated by law, conflicting regulations, as well as renewing needs to meet with international treaties in which Mongolia ratified.

In other words, there is only one standard regulated by laws regardless the difference between the 3 objects of the invention, the industrial design and the utility model, regulation in connection with the filing and examination process is not appropriate in practice, as well as the use of a compulsory license of the patent that violates the rights of the owners. In addition, there is no financial support, tax and fee discount policy that supports creators, and the process of international application relating to the patent regulated by laws do not meet the standards and requirements of international agreements ratified by Mongolia.

Guidelines for improvement Mongolian legislations until 2020 states that the Patent Law is aimed at improving the protection of patents based on global trends and agreements with World Intellectual Property Organization based on the views of the World Intellectual Property Organization.

In addition, the Government’s Action Plan for the 2016-2020 was obliged to the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs in order to draft a law on amendments to the Patent Law to submit to the State Great Hural.

As a member of the World Intellectual Property Organization, Mongolia obliges to comply with the fundamental principles set forth in international treaties and conventions which ratified.

Law on Patent expects to be amended based on abovementioned requirements.

Tracking Manufacturer of Imported Counterfeit Product in Mongolia



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A client recently asked our firm’s Mongolian intellectual property lawyers for assistance regarding counterfeit products which were being sold in Mongolia. It seems the details of the manufacturer’s identify and contact information as listed on the packaging were false, so the client needed our assistance in identifying the actual importer and manufacturer. Records of the importer would be kept by Mongolian customs, but these records cannot be accessed by everyone. We presented with their options for gaining access to this information.

 If there is an officially appointed distributor in Mongolia for the authentic products which are the subject of the counterfeit, this official distributor may approach Mongolia Customs, provide the contract granting it authority to distribute the relevant products in Mongolia, and request that Customs provides the name and information of the importer. This is the simplest and most straight forward course of action, but requires an existing distribution contract with an authorized Mongolian importer.

Once information on the importer is obtained from Customs, a complaint on the counterfeit goods and trademark may be made to the Mongolian Intellectual Property Office, and to Customs. The IP Office will conduct its own investigation, and will issue a report as to the suspected infringement. Assuming the report of the IP Office finds infringement and counterfeit goods, the Customs Office will stop import of the fake goods at the border. Requests may also be made to the IP Office and to Customs that they provide the authentic goods manufacturer with the officially registered name of the manufacturer to allow us to independently pursue legal actions.

However, authentic manufacturer does not have an official distributor for its products in Mongolia, the stores which are selling the counterfeit products in question must be identified, and evidence of the counterfeit goods compiled. Then a report on the counterfeit products and stores selling the goods must be submitted to the IP Office, which will then initiate an investigation and will issue a report. As above, the report of the IP Office may be shown to Mongolia Customs in order to have them stop import of the counterfeit goods.

One other option for identifying the true identity of the manufacturer will be to contact local sellers of the counterfeit products in Mongolia directly. As can be imagined this may be a long process without a real guarantee the sellers would cooperate to provide the information requested. These sellers can be presented with the legal consequences for their failure to cooperate. If the seller only knows the identity of the local Mongolian distributor, the distributor will have to be approached for information in the same way.

We will not here that Mongolia does not have a reliable “private investigator” sector so any investigative inquiries at the local stores and distributors will need to be made by an attorney.