There is no modern trademark law in Myanmar. Foreign companies that want to protect their trademark must first register them under the archaic Registration Act of 1908.
Until a modern trademark law has been passed by Parliament the best course of action is to register your trademark at the Yangon Office of Registration of Deeds.
After which a cautionary notice is published in major newspapers saying that your company owned the trademark and will take legal actions against those who infringe on your trademark. See actual sample below of the Cautionary Trademark notice that we published in the Global New Light of Myanmar (GNLM) on 18th May 2017. Click on the image below to see the page where the advertisement appeared. GNLM is the official newspaper of the Myanmar government and is the largest circulating newspaper with over 30,000 copy sold each day.
Be wary of trademark registration agents in Myanmar that quote you super cheap packages for trademark registration. Many a times they will just placed your trademark cautionary notice in small struggling newspapers with circulation of less than 10,000 a day and these newspapers are normally funded by various political parties and have very narrow readership and credibility; many have closed over the last 2 years due to low circulation. It will be hard for you to defend your trademark if your cautionary notice has been published in a newspaper that is no longer in existent.
Registering a trademark alone is not sufficient to claim legal ownership – you must be able to show proof that you are the first user of the trademark in Myanmar. Trademark registration together with immediate action to put your products and point-of-sales materials into distribution in Myanmar via distributors, agents or business partners are key to protecting your trademark.
If you need help in registering your trademark please fill up the form below:
We respond to all forms received during office hours within 2 hours.
