Did Soft Opening Period end on 31 March 2021 and when will Grand Opening Period open for filing new marks in Myanmar?

06/04/2021

In accordance with the Order No. 63/2020 of The Ministry of Commerce of Myanmar, Soft Opening for Trademark Re-Filing would open from 1st October, 2020 until the date of Grand Opening. However, it was misunderstood by a number of people that

Soft Opening Period would be open until 31 March, 2021;
Grand Opening will be commenced on the 1^st day of April, 2021; and
No marks that have been registered under the old system in Myanmar can be re-filed under the new Trademark Law since 1^st day of April, 2021.

In fact, 06 months was just the estimated duration for the Soft Opening at the first place, and Soft Opening would run until the implementation of Grand Opening, while the commencing date of Grand Opening was not determined yet.

Recently, owing to the crisis of a coup d’état in Myanmar, the commencement of Grand Opening will be delayed, which means the Soft Opening Period will be extended. Albeit much of difficulty, it is still possible to proceed with the re-filing of commercialized trademarks (both registered and NON-registered) through the online e-filing system.

The following documents will be required when re-filing registered marks:

Scanned copy of Declaration(s) of ownership/ Declaration(s) of renewal of ownership as recorded with the Deeds and Documents Registration Office;
Type of Company;
Company Registration Number;
Incorporated Jurisdiction;
Clear specimen of the proposed mark in jpg format (within one megabyte);
Owner’s name and address;
Classes and list of goods and/or services (must be identical to those already recorded with the Deeds and Documents Registration Office and provided in accordance with the International Classification – Nice classification);
Description of color claims of the mark;
Mark translation/transliteration (if the mark not in English or Myanmar language);

Requirements for filing non-registered marks but commercialized in Myanmar are similar to those for registered marks along with substantial evidence of use in place of the documentary evidence of prior registration. Such evidences may include: