On May 21, 2026, the latest session of the intellectual property advisory service for exporters concluded.
The chief accountant of a company providing boxer training services contacted the consultation office. He explained that a trademark in Latin script is registered in the name of company’s founder (an individual), and the company wishes to display this mark as an outdoor advertising sign, having the design approved by the relevant Minsk City Executive Committee authority.
The question concerned the possibility of legalizing the company’s rights to obtain a permit from the Minsk City Executive Committee for the installation of an outdoor sign.
The consultant’s response was based on the provisions of the Law of Republic of Belarus “On Trademarks and Service Marks” (hereinafter referred to as the “Law”). Pursuant to Article 23 of the Law, the right to use a trademark may be granted by the trademark owner (licensor) to another person (licensee) under a license agreement in respect of all or same of the goods for which the trademark is registered.
Given that the trademark (service mark) is registered for services in Class 41– of the Nice Classification specifically, organizing sport competitions, providing fight club services and that the company’s statutory activities include precisely these services operating a fight club, training athletes in combat sport, and organizing sports competitions, the parties are entitled to enter into a license agreement regarding the specified services.
In accordance with Article 24 of the Law, a license agreement and amendments thereto are subjects to registration with the patent authority in the manner prescribed by legislation. The legislative act establishing the procedure for registering a license agreement is Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus №346 dated March 21, 2009, "On the Registration of License Agreements, Agreements on the Assignment of Rights to Industrial Property Objects, Agreements on the Pledge of Property Rights Certified by a Certificate for a Trademark or Service Mark, and Comprehensive Entrepreneurial License (Franchising) Agreements".
A license agreement (or an amendment thereto) enters into force on the date of its registration with the patent authority, unless the agreement specifies a later effective date. Failure to comply with the requirement to register a license agreement, or any amendments thereto, renders them invalid.
Only after registering the license agreement for the use of its founder’s trademark is the company entitled to apply to the relevant permitting authority of the Minsk City Executive Committee for approval of an outdoor advertising sign displaying its founder’s trademark.
