On November 19, 2024, amendments to the Civil Code of the Republic of Belarus dated December 7, 1998 (CC) will enter into force, according to which Section V “Intellectual Property” of the CC is set out in a new edition.
In the area of copyright and related rights, the following are among the main changes:
• the presumption of creativity is established, according to which a work is recognized as created by creative work, until otherwise established;
• the term "transfer of an organization of on-air and cable broadcasting" is replaced by the term "transfer of a broadcasting organization";
• the term of the exclusive right to copyright objects is increased, which will be the lifetime of the author and 70 years after his death.
On November 19, 2024, amendments to the Civil Code of the Republic of Belarus dated December 7, 1998 (CC) come into force, according to which Section V "Intellectual Property" of the CC is set out in a new version.
In the area of industrial property law, the following are among the main changes:
• registration of industrial property rights with the patent authority will be defined as state registration;
with respect to trademarks and service marks:
• the provision is established that one color can be registered as a trademark;
• with respect to integrated circuit topographies, Chapter 65 of the Civil Code is supplemented with articles regulating the content of the exclusive right to a topology, actions recognized as the use of a topology, and the validity period of a topology certificate (ten years, calculated from the earlier of the dates specified in Article 1009 of the Civil Code);
• with respect to production secrets (know-how), it is established that their protection will be carried out subject to the establishment of a commercial secret regime with respect to information constituting a production secret (know-how). An agreement on the transfer of a production secret (know-how) is called the agreement under which a production secret (know-how) can be disposed of, and its essential condition is also determined, namely, the obligations of the parties to ensure the confidentiality of information constituting a production secret (know-how);
for objects of patent law:
• the term "patentability conditions" is established;
• actions that defined the concept of "violation of the exclusive right of the patent holder", taking into account the amendments made to the Civil Code, will define the concept of "use of an invention, utility model, industrial design";
• it was clarified that the exclusive right to an invention, utility model, industrial design can be exercised and protected by the patent holder during the period of validity of the patent starting from the date of publication in the official bulletin of the patent authority of information on the issuance of this patent.
