On December 9, 2010, the Kosovo PTO launched its first Official Gazette, which contains information on all registered patents and trademarks as well as renewed trademarks.
The Gazette, the content of which is in Albanian only, can be downloaded in the PDF format on this web page.
For more information, please contact Nahide Saliaga-Maliqi.
Source: Kosovo PTO
The Kosovo PTO has recently started to accept trademark availability search requests.
The official search covers pending trademark applications and trademark registrations. The official fee is EUR 20 (USD 28) per search. It may take up to 10 working days to receive search results.
Please note that it is currently possible to conduct wordmark searches only. The Kosovo PTO does not have a sophisticated trademark database. Therefore, the searches for figurative trademarks are not possible yet.
For more information, please contact Kujtesa Nezaj-Shehu.
On September 8, 2010, the Kosovo parliament approved two new laws in the field of intellectual property, the Law on Industrial Design and the Law on Trademarks.
The new Law on Industrial Design will replace the 2005 Law No. 2005/02-L45, while the new Law on Trademarks will replace the 2006 Law No. 2006/02-L54, currently in force in Kosovo.
To enter into force, the new laws will have to be promulgated by the President of the Republic of Kosovo, which is expected in the near future.
Furthermore, on September 1, 2010, the Kosovo government approved the Draft Law on Patents, which has been submitted to the parliament for further discussion and approval.
More details about the new laws are to follow soon.
For more information, please contact Kujtesa Nezaj-Shehu.
On July 30, 2010, Administrative Instruction No.07/2010 entered into force. The Administrative Instruction addresses implementation of Kosovo’s Law on Customs Measures for Protection of Intellectual Property Rights, which entered into force on January 8, 2010. We wrote about the new law back in January.
The Administrative Instruction defines procedures for filing a Customs Watch Application with the Customs of the Republic of Kosovo, the necessary documents to be submitted with the Application, the official fee involved, the procedure of filing the liability declaration, and the deposit of the guarantee.
For more information, please contact Kujtesa Nezaj.
Source: SDP KOSOVE
On May 26, 2010, the Kosovo government approved the Regulation establishing the Copyright Office in Kosovo.
The regulation provides that the Office will be within the authority of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports. The Law on Copyright was enacted in 2006.
The Deputy Minister of Culture Lirie Kajtazi stated that the duties of the Office will include certifying and supervising the associations representing the copyright and related rights holders, as well as other legal subjects specialized in administering copyrights, which meet the criteria set by the law.
Kajtazi added that the Office will soon be functional and staffed, but did not give an exact opening date.
For more information, please contact Nahide Saliaga-Maliqi.
Source: Koha DItore