Company news

On 9 December 2021 a webinar on intellectual property (IP) protection and enforcement in Kazakhstan took place at the Caspian University. Yuri Bolotov our Managing Partner acted as a lecturer.

During the lecture issues of intellectual property were touched upon, among which were an integrated circuit topologies and know-how. Speaking of integrated-circuit topologies Yuri Bolotov emphasized that in all 25 years of existence of the relevant law in Kazakhstan the first and only topology was registered just a few weeks ago. Yuri Bolotov noted that know-how (undisclosed information, production secrets) is the object of intellectual property is not registered. Information to be considered know-how or a trade secret must have three main features: it must be of commercial value by virtue of not being known to the third parties; it must not be legally freely accessible; and the owner of the information must take measures to protect it.

S to the copyright and related rights, Yuri Bolotov said that in our company’s experience we frequently encounter such objects of copyright as works of architecture and urban planning; maps, plans, sketches, illustrations and three-dimensional works related to geography, topography and other sciences; computer programs and etc. The specifics of copyright in Kazakhstan, according to Yuri is that in our country an author can only be an individual, while in many other countries a company can be an author, for example in the US and some EU countries.

Referring to the main laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the field of IP, Yuri Bolotov emphasized the Patent Law adopted in Kazakhstan on August 5, 1992. Yuri noted that the Kazakhstani patent law was the first one developed in the CIS countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union. All other patent laws in Russia and Ukraine were developed later on the basis of the Kazakhstani law.

Yuri covered in detail such issues as management of IP system; searching for trademarks, patents, tradenames and types of trademarks. Questions such as “For what is intellectual property needed?” and “What is evidence of IP rights?” were also answered.