On January 12, 2023, Intellectual Property Department (IPD) announced that the trademark law 2019 is planned to be enforced in March 2023. Therefore, the trademark registrations and the procedures for accepting payments will commence once the Trademark Law is enforced. The finalized TM-2 form and official fees have yet to be released. It is presumed that the trademark registration fees will be issued soon by a separate notification. At the same time, the second phase of the Soft Opening Period, together with the payment, will also be commenced.

After announcing the fees and payment process for trademark registration, all trademark owners who had previously filed their existing marks during the soft opening period must also pay the necessary fees for their applications.

According to the Intellectual Property Department (IPD) announcement, if the New Trademark Law-2019 is enforced in March 2023, the current soft opening period may be terminated, and IP Dept may kick off implementing Grand Opening under the new law system.However, in the Grand Opening period, not only new trademark applications also used marks and old registered marks through Declaration of Ownership of Trademark with the Deeds and Documents Registration Office are still possible to re-file for a certain period of time via online filing and over the counter desk of IP Dept.

Therefore, re-filing your clients’ existing marks via the online filing system as early as possible is highly recommended. If your clients’ still have old registered marks, re-filing now is advised.
We will keep you informed of further development.

The following is the link to the announcement:-
https://www.ipd.gov.mm/news-and-resources/announcement-deta