Myanmar has enacted legislation to protect intellectual property (IP)in another step forward for businesses in the country. 

On January 30, the Trademark Law and Industrial Design Law were passed into legislation by the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw.

However, both laws provide that they will be effective only after a notification is issued by the President of Myanmar. “As such, while both are now statutes, their effect and implementation will continue to be deferred to a later date. This is the same approach adopted with other laws, such as the Companies Law and the Competition Law,” according to law firm Kelvin Chia Yangon in a February 1 note.

So far, there has been no indication on when the President’s notification on the effective date of the Trademark Law or the Industrial Design Law will be issue. According to the law firm, it is likely that this will happen only after the implementing mechanisms, such as the trademark registry, have been properly established.

Nevertheless, the move is a positive one for businesses in Myanmar, which have long relied on outdated colonial-era laws to protect their intellectual property rights. 

Since 2015, during the previous administration, the government has been trying to enact regulations covering intellectual property rights, including a trademark law, industrial design law, copy right law and patents law.While the trademark law and industrial design law have been enacted, the draft copy right law and patents law are still being discussed in the Amotha Hluttaw.

The Trademark Law implements the first-to-file system from the previous first-to-use system. “This means that trademark holders who registered under the first-to-use system will need to re-register their marks under the current first-to-file system,” Kelvin Chia Yangon said.