A new draft Law on Intellectual Property has been released for public discussion in Uzbekistan. One of its key proposals addresses a long-standing and controversial issue in Uzbek trademark law – trademark cancellation for non-use.
What’s the issue?
Under current legislation in Uzbekistan, any interested party may request the early cancellation of a trademark if it has not been used for the past three years. The idea is fair, unused marks shouldn’t block the market in Uzbekistan. However, for many years, the Civil Code of Uzbekistan has allowed mere signing of a license agreement to be considered as valid use of a trademark, without any requirement to prove real commercial activity.
This contradicts the country’s trademark-specific law, which emphasizes actual use. The result has been legal ambiguity that allowed trademark owners to retain rights based solely on formal and often meaningless license agreements, without any genuine market presence in Uzbekistan.
What’s changing?
The draft law, introduced by the Ministry of Justice of Uzbekistan, eliminates this inconsistency. A license agreement will no longer be automatically considered as proof of use. Trademark owners in Uzbekistan will now be required to show actual commercial use to maintain their registrations.
Why does it matter?
The proposed change closes a loophole that has been exploited by bad-faith trademark holders in Uzbekistan and significantly increases legal clarity and predictability. At SETTLE, we’ve handled numerous cases where legitimate non-use claims were rejected solely due to the existence of a formal license agreement. In one of those cases, our team even submitted an official proposal to the Ministry of Justice, suggesting legislative reform.
Now, with the draft law released, Uzbekistan is taking a concrete step toward a more transparent and fair trademark protection system.
