– Law on Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin of the Republic of Kazakhstan, in force since September 4, 1999, amended on March 2, 2007, January 31, 2012, April 20, 2015, July 3, 2018, January 21, 2019, and June 20, 2022, last amendments in force since August 21, 2022.

– Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), since December 25, 1991.
– Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, Stockholm Act, since December 25, 1991.
– Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, since December 25, 1991.
– The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (Apostille), since January 30, 2001.
– Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks, since April 24, 2002.
– Trademark Law Treaty, as of November 7, 2002.
– Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, since December 8, 2010.
– Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks, since September 5, 2012.
– WTO’s TRIPS Agreement, since November 30, 2015.

Applicant: a natural person or legal entity.

Foreigners: enjoy same rights as nationals; must appoint a patent agent in Kazakhstan.

Service marks: protection is provided for.

Geographical indications and appellations of origin: protection is provided for.

Kinds of protection: individual or collective trademarks. Marks can be words, designs, tri-dimensional and sound trademarks.

Not registrable: State emblems, State coats of arms, State flags, abbreviated and full names of international and intergovernmental organizations, official control, guarantee marks and test marks, stamps, seals, rewards and other decorations and similar marks which may lead to confusion; marks which are not distinctive; which are generally used as denominations of marked goods; generally accepted symbols and terms indicating the type, quality, quantity, property, purpose, usefulness of goods, as well as location and time of their production and sale; marks which are false or misleading for consumers as to the product or its manufacturer; whose content is contrary to humanitarian principles, public interests and to morality; protection cannot be granted for trademarks identical with or similar to earlier registered trademarks (or applied for registration) in the Republic of Kazakhstan or protected in accordance with the International Treaties for identical or similar products by another person, and identical to earlier registered trademarks (or applied for registration) for identical products by the same person; trademarks registered in Kazakhstan as well-known; titles of well-known works of literature, science and art; surnames, first names, pseudonyms and derivatives thereof, portraits, facsimiles (without consent); Olympic symbols.

Priorities: Conventional; exhibition (six months after the exhibition at the latest); the priority may be claimed within two months from the filing date.

Classification: international.

Territory covered: the Republic of Kazakhstan. 

Filing requirements for an application (to be sent to resident agent):
1. Power of attorney (no legalization);
2. The sign to be protected in electronic format;
3. List of goods and/or services, according to the International Classification (to be translated into Kazakh or Russian); one application may include several international classes;
4. The priority certificate, if any (to be filed within two months from the filing date);
5. For a collective mark: statute of the association.

Electronic filing: available. 

Electronic signatures: only local electronic signatures (provided by the National Certification Authority of the Republic of Kazakhstan) are accepted.

Examination: (1) preliminary: within one month from the filing date, regarding formal requirements; (2) complete: within seven months from the filing date, for novelty and registrability. 

Expedited examination: not available. 

Publication: trademark registrations are published in the electronic Official Bulletin, the applications filed on or after July 3, 2018 are published in the Official Bulletin within five working days following the end of the preliminary examination.

Opposition: any interested party may file an opposition within one month from publication of the application.

Disclaimers: available.  

Letters of consent: are accepted. 

Appeal: possible against the Patent Office's decisions. 

Corrections: acceptable, with a fee.

Amendment of application: additional materials modifying the claimed sign in a substantive way are not acceptable.

Granting: on the basis of the Patent Office’s granting decision, after the complete examination, the trademark is entered into the State Register and is confirmed by a Registration Certificate (in electronic format).

Publication: data concerning registration of trademarks, which have been entered into the State Register, are published in the electronic Official Bulletin.

Objection – appeal: the Decision may be objected to, through the Examination Board of the Patent Office, and appealed against through the Appeal Board of the Patent Office and through court procedure.

Opposition: official procedure is not provided; letters informing of prior rights or of the absolute grounds to refuse are taken into consideration in case filed before the substantive examination is completed.

Duration – extension: ten years from the filing date; renewable for further ten-year periods; grace period: six months.

Exclusive right: the exclusive right to use the registered trademark belongs to its owner.

Use: compulsory; non-use within any three-year period counting from the registration date may lead to cancellation of the mark (subject of a court action). 

Conditions for valid use: any commercial use of the mark or appellation of origin, including manufacture, importation, stocking, offering for sale or sale of the mark or appellation of origin or of the product it designates; its use in advertising, printed publications, business literature, on signs; use through a license recorded with the Patent Office; use at exhibitions and fairs held in the country, shall be deemed to constitute valid use.

License: must be registered in the Patent Office; may be exclusive or non-exclusive and only for a part of goods and services; not recognized if it leads to confusion in respect of goods and place of origin of its manufacturer. 

Assignment: to be registered; not recognized if it leads to confusion in respect of goods and place of origin of its manufacturer.

Compulsory license: not provided for.

Nullification: any interested person may object and appeal against a trademark registration during the whole period of validity if the established conditions for the registration were not fulfilled; or three-year grace period on non-use has expired; or within five years from registration date, on the basis of a prior registration, or a well-known trademark.

Infringement: punished by compensation if damages are proven.

Validation of invalidated mark: an expired trademark or a confusingly similar designation cannot be registered during one year from its expiry date in the name of someone other than its former owner; this applies also to the cases when the owner abandons the trademark before expiration of the registration.