Trademark Squatting in Uzbekistan: How to Challenge a Registration of Your Brand

If a former distributor or another opportunist has registered your brand in Uzbekistan, a practice known as trademark squatting, you can challenge the registration at the Appeals Council of the Ministry of Justice or in court, and a mark that has not been used for three years in a row can be terminated through the court. The Council’s state fee for a company is 12 BRV (UZS 5,280,000 as of the date of publication, October 2026). Two new levers appeared in 2026: the Law “On Competition”, as amended by ZRU-1117, now expressly treats grabbing a mark in order to restrict sales of goods already put into circulation as unfair competition, and Law No. ZRU-1144 has allowed a court, since 8 August, to terminate the mark of a liquidated owner. The right tool depends on the stage: an application still under examination, a registration younger than five years, or an old registration with no goods on the market.

Key points

• Application under examination: written objections about bad faith are accepted until the examination decision.
• Registration issued: it can be challenged for similarity to an earlier or well-known mark within 5 years of publication, and for misleading consumers and unfair competition at any time during its term.
• Non-use for three years in a row: termination only through the court; sales abroad do not count.
• New in 2026: grabbing a brand to block sales is unfair competition; a court can terminate early the mark of a liquidated legal entity or of a deceased owner with no heirs.
• Compensation is 20–1,000 BRV (UZS 8.8–440 million) without proof of loss; it goes to the person in whose name the mark is recorded.

Why foreign brands learn about the problem too late

According to the WIPO statistical country profile for Uzbekistan, trademark filings in 2024, counted by Nice class, grew by 41.8%: by 72.8% for residents and by 4.2% for non-residents. The typical scenario: a brand sells through a distributor for years and files its own application only when it enters the market as an investor, and then finds the mark in someone else’s name.

Registration in the country of origin gives no protection in Uzbekistan: the right takes effect from the date of registration in the State Register and only for the goods listed in the certificate (Article 26 of Law No. 267-II “On Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin of Goods”). In addition, examination does not check a designation against the well-known company names of other persons (the ground in paragraph 14 of part 1 of Article 10 is not checked, Article 15), and such conflicts are resolved only by challenging the registration. That is why trademark registration in Uzbekistan starts with checking whether the mark is available.

Which tool fits your situation

Costs and timelines (October 2026)

Fees are taken from the annex to the Law “On State Duty” No. ZRU-600 at a BRV (base calculation value; БРВ in Russian-language sources) of UZS 440,000; the Council’s time limits are set by its Rules.

If the application is still under examination: objections about bad faith

Within one business day of filing, the Ministry of Justice posts information about the application on its website, and interested persons can file written objections about the bad faith of the application (parts 3–4 of Article 8 of Law No. 267-II). Under the administrative regulation approved by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 480, an objection is accepted until the examination decision; the Intellectual Property Center notifies the parties of it within 5 business days and answers its author within 5 business days after the decision.

The window is short: the designation is examined within seven months but not earlier than six months from the filing date (Article 15), so application monitoring should be set up before you enter the market. Attach to the objections your correspondence with the distributor, customs declarations, advertising, foreign registrations and data on the applicant’s filings for other people’s brands.

Law No. 267-II has no special rule on registration of a mark by an agent without the owner’s consent. But under part 2 of Article 2 international treaties take priority, and Article 6septies of the Paris Convention (Uzbekistan has been a party since 1991) allows the owner to challenge the registration of its mark by its own agent or representative. We found no practice of its direct application in Uzbekistan, so treat it as an additional argument alongside the bad faith of the filing, paragraph 9 of part 1 of Article 10 and Article 21 of the Law on Competition.

Invalidation at the Appeals Council of the Ministry of Justice

A certificate is invalidated in full or in part (Article 24 of Law No. 267-II) on two groups of grounds:

• No time limit: violation of paragraphs 1–12 of part 1 of Article 10, and unfair competition by the owner (part 2 of Article 24). For a foreign brand, one of the main arguments is paragraph 9, misleading the consumer about the manufacturer; you have to prove that on the priority date of the disputed application consumers in Uzbekistan associated the designation with you.
• Five years from publication of the registration: paragraphs 13–14, that is, similarity to an earlier mark or application in Uzbekistan, to a mark protected under an international treaty, or to a well-known mark, and also to a company name known in Uzbekistan with an earlier right (only for similar goods).

Under the Rules of the Appeals Council (text in Uzbek), as amended by Order No. 27-mh of the Minister of Justice (reg. No. 3190-1 of 12 August 2026), the application is filed through the Ministry of Justice’s intellectual property protection portal. Foreign companies and non-residents file through a patent attorney from the State Register, in Uzbek or Russian, with one mark per application. The review period is four months; at a participant’s request the Council may postpone the hearing for no more than six months.

The Council’s decision can be challenged in court. Article 16 expressly gives the applicant six months in disputes over examination; for decisions on invalidity Law No. 267-II names no time limit and it is determined by procedural law, so go to court without delay. A claim goes straight to court when you need measures that only a court can order: termination for non-use, a ban on use, compensation.

The new 2026 argument: grabbing a brand as unfair competition

ZRU-1117 of 5 February 2026 supplemented Article 21 of the Law “On Competition”: unfair competition now expressly includes actions aimed at restricting the sale of a product previously put into civil circulation by acquiring the exclusive right to the means of individualization of a competitor or its product. This is the scenario of a former distributor who recorded the brand in its own name.

• An application to the Committee for Competition Development and Consumer Rights Protection (the competition authority). You prove that the mark owner is a competitor, that the goods were sold in Uzbekistan before the priority date of its application, and that the registration is used to close the market to the goods: claims against importers, complaints to the justice authorities.
• A decision recognizing the owner’s actions as unfair competition.
• Invalidation of the registration at the Council or in court under part 2 of Article 24 of Law No. 267-II, with no five-year limit.

A lever for negotiations is paragraph 4 of Article 42 of the same law: the sanction is 2% of revenue from sales of the goods on the market where the law was violated, for the period of the violation, but for no more than the last three years. There is still little practice under the new paragraph.

Termination for non-use: three years in a row

Article 1104 of the Civil Code allows a court, at the request of any interested person, to cancel a registration if the mark has not been used in Uzbekistan, without good reason, continuously for the last three years (in the 1997 version the period was five years). Under part 3 of Article 25 of Law No. 267-II, termination may be full or partial, and the owner can prove that it did not use the mark for reasons beyond its control.

• Sales in other countries do not count.
• Evidence of use must relate to the period stated in the claim (part 4 of Article 25), so the period has to be worded precisely.
• It pays to seek partial termination, for the goods where the registration blocks your application.

Non-use is established by monitoring retail, marketplaces and advertising, by inspection records, and by the data that a counterparty check provides. The same claim can be brought against you, so keep evidence of use for every year (Article 27): labeling, declarations, sales, advertising, the registered license.

What changed in 2025–2026

ZRU-1144 of 7 May 2026 took effect on publication; part 5 of Article 25 and Article 29 of Law No. 267-II, Article 1104 of the Civil Code and the fees took effect on 8 August 2026 (Article 15 of ZRU-1144), and the amendment of Article 37-1 on 7 May 2026. Article 29 on the R marking was restated, but placing R or R in a circle (®) next to a mark registered in Uzbekistan was permitted before. Two rules matter for a dispute:

• Mark of a liquidated owner. The new part 5 of Article 25 lets a court, on an interested person’s application, terminate a certificate early if the owner, a legal entity, has been liquidated, or the owner, an individual, died without heirs. Previously such a mark blocked other people’s applications until the certificate expired and for three more years after that (Article 32). There is no practice yet.
• A license no longer equals use. Part two of Article 1104 of the Civil Code, under which the grant of a license had been treated as use since 1997, was removed. Actual use by a licensee under a registered agreement counts (Articles 27 and 30 of Law No. 267-II). This is our reading of the text, not a court’s position: a parent company’s mark with a license only on paper is vulnerable to a non-use claim.

A well-known mark as a shield

The Appeals Council can recognize a mark as well-known even if it is not registered in Uzbekistan, when through intensive use it has become widely known in the country (Article 32-1). The mark is entered in the official list of well-known marks and is protected indefinitely, and similar designations are not registered for any goods (paragraph 13 of part 1 of Article 10); fees and the term are in the table above. Fame is proven by sales, advertising and surveys in Uzbekistan specifically; the status is justified when the grabs span different classes.

Money: compensation, fines and liability

Amounts are at a BRV of UZS 440,000 (as of the date of publication, October 2026). Instead of losses, the owner of a mark may claim compensation of 20–1,000 BRV (UZS 8.8–440 million) regardless of whether any loss was incurred (part 4 of Article 26). Fines depend on the offender. A legal entity faces 100–200 BRV (UZS 44–88 million) under Article 37-1 of Law No. 267-II after an inspection by the justice authorities on the rights holder’s application, and paying 70% within a month relieves it of the remainder. Individuals and officials face 15–30 BRV with confiscation under Article 177 of the Administrative Liability Code. Major damage may bring criminal liability under Article 149-2 of the Criminal Code.

Practice as reported by spot.uz (fines are converted at the BRV in force until 1 September 2026):

The flip side: as long as someone else’s registration stands, the rights holder in Uzbekistan is its owner. The rule in part 5 of Article 26 on goods lawfully put into circulation, by its literal text, covers goods of this owner or released with its consent, so your distributor risks a fine and a claim even when selling original goods.

Buying out the mark and checking marks when buying a business

A buyout is often faster than a dispute, and the stronger your position, the lower the price, so negotiations should start with a ready application in hand. A transfer capable of misleading consumers is not allowed (Article 30), so you buy out the seller’s whole block of similar marks and applications, with an undertaking not to file new ones; the agreement is registered with the Ministry of Justice.

When buying a company in Uzbekistan, check whether the marks are recorded in the target company’s name, whether licenses are registered and whether the marks have been used in the last three years. The mark of a company that will be liquidated after the deal should be reassigned in advance, otherwise it becomes a target for a claim under part 5 of Article 25.

Example: what a dispute might look like

The example is hypothetical. A European cosmetics maker sold its goods in Uzbekistan for four years through a distributor without registering the mark. In 2026 it opens a subsidiary LLC and finds that in 2023 its brand in class 3 of the Nice Classification was registered by the former distributor’s firm, which now demands that the new importer stop sales.

• Evidence is fixed: contracts and customs declarations for imports before the priority date of the disputed mark, advertising, the firm’s claims.
• An application is filed with the Committee for Competition Development and Consumer Rights Protection under the new paragraph of Article 21: the goods were in circulation before registration, and the registration closes the market to them.
• Through a patent attorney, an application for invalidity is filed with the Appeals Council under paragraph 9 of part 1 of Article 10, and, if the brand matches the manufacturer’s company name known in Uzbekistan, also under paragraph 14 (the five years have not passed); after the Committee’s decision, part 2 of Article 24 is added.
• If three years have already passed since registration and in that period the firm has not released goods under the mark, a non-use claim is prepared.
• In parallel, the company files its own application and negotiates a buyout; new shipments are imported only after a risk assessment.

The outcome depends on the evidence; pursuing several routes at once protects you if one of them fails.

Common mistakes

• Sending the owner a demand letter before collecting evidence: it will have time to start “use” or to transfer the mark to a related company.
• Missing the five-year limit under paragraphs 13–14 of part 1 of Article 10.
• Not raising unfair competition although sales before the other party’s registration are documented.
• Filing a non-use claim against a registration younger than three years, or for the wrong period.
• Continuing to import under the disputed brand without assessing the risk of a fine and compensation.

How Pactum helps

• We assess the stage, grounds, time limits and evidence, and propose a strategy: a dispute, a buyout or a combination of the two.
• We handle cases at the Appeals Council together with a patent attorney, at the Committee for Competition Development and Consumer Rights Protection and in court.
• We negotiate buyouts, register assignments and licenses, and review the group’s license chain.
• We register trademarks from UZS 6,000,000; conducting a dispute is priced after we review the task.

Start with a lawyer consultation: 60 minutes, UZS 300,000, credited toward the cost of the service. For more detail, see the page on trademark and patent registration in Uzbekistan.

FAQ

Does registration in the home country or through the Madrid System help?

A foreign registration gives no protection in Uzbekistan, but it lets you claim Convention priority if the application in Uzbekistan was filed within six months (Article 12 of Law No. 267-II). An international registration designating Uzbekistan does not cancel an earlier local registration held by another person. For fees, see the article how much a trademark costs in Uzbekistan.

How much does it cost to challenge a trademark in Uzbekistan?

The state fee for an application for invalidity at the Appeals Council is 12 BRV for a company (UZS 5,280,000) and 6 BRV for an individual (UZS 2,640,000) as of the date of publication, October 2026. On top of that come the patent attorney and the lawyers’ work: price after we review the task. Court state duty is checked on the date the claim is filed.

A former distributor registered our brand. What should we do?

Collect evidence of sales before the priority date of its application and do not rush to send a demand letter. Then apply to the Committee for Competition Development and Consumer Rights Protection under Article 21 of the Law on Competition, and file an application with the Appeals Council under paragraph 9 of part 1 of Article 10, citing Article 6septies of the Paris Convention. If the application is still under examination, file objections about bad faith.

How long does a trademark dispute take?

The Appeals Council reviews an application in four months; at a participant’s request the Council may postpone the hearing for no more than six months. Time limits for court disputes are not officially set and depend on the instances and the evidence.

Can a mark be challenged if more than five years have passed since registration?

Arguments under paragraphs 13–14 of part 1 of Article 10 do not work after five years. What remains are the absolute grounds, unfair competition (including under Article 21 of the Law on Competition), non-use and liquidation of the owner. For a mark well-known in Uzbekistan you can also cite paragraph 3 of Article 6bis of the Paris Convention, which sets no time limit against bad-faith registrations, but we found no practice of its application in Uzbekistan.

What if the mark is held by a company that no longer exists?

From 8 August 2026 you can ask a court to terminate the certificate of a liquidated legal entity (part 5 of Article 25). The law ties the three-year ban on registration in another person’s name (Article 32) only to the expiry of the term and to the owner’s refusal; for termination by a court the question is not regulated, so discuss the timing of your own application with a lawyer.

Sources

• Law No. 267-II “On Trademarks, Service Marks and Appellations of Origin of Goods”, Russian text
• Civil Code, Article 1104, current version, Russian text
• Civil Code, Article 1104 in the 1997 version, Russian text
• Law No. ZRU-1144 of 7 May 2026, Russian text
• Law “On Competition” No. ZRU-850, Articles 21 and 42, as amended by ZRU-1117 of 5 February 2026, Russian text
• Law “On State Duty” No. ZRU-600, annex, paragraphs 12 and 14, Russian text
• Rules of the Appeals Council of the Ministry of Justice, Order No. 494 as amended by Order No. 27-mh, reg. No. 3190-1 of 12 August 2026 (text in Uzbek)
• Administrative regulation, Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 480 of 19 September 2023, as amended by Resolution No. 375 of 9 July 2026, Russian text
• Presidential Decree No. UP-115 of 23 June 2026, Russian text
• Criminal Code, Article 149-2, Russian text
• Code of Administrative Liability, Article 177, Russian text
• WIPO, statistical country profile of Uzbekistan
• WIPO, Uzbekistan’s participation in international treaties