Macedonia Trademark Information

Macedonia, officially the Republic of Macedonia, is located in Eastern Europe on the Balkan Peninsula. It is bordered by Kosovo to the northwest, Serbia to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south and Albania to the west.

Macedonia gained its independence peacefully from Yugoslavia in 1991. Greece's objection to the new state's use of what it considered a Hellenic name and symbols delayed international recognition, which occurred under the provisional designation of "the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia." In 1995, Greece lifted a 20-month trade embargo and the two countries agreed to normalize relations. The United States began referring to Macedonia by its constitutional name, Republic of Macedonia, in 2004 and negotiations continue between Greece and Macedonia to resolve the name issue. Some ethnic Albanians, angered by perceived political and economic inequities, launched an insurgency in 2001 that eventually won the support of the majority of Macedonia's Albanian population and led to the internationally-brokered Ohrid Framework Agreement, which ended the fighting by establishing a set of new laws enhancing the rights of minorities. Fully implementing the Framework Agreement and stimulating economic growth and development continue to be challenges for Macedonia, although progress has been made on both fronts over the past several years.

Trademarks are assigned through the State Office of Industrial Property. Macedonia is a member of the Madrid Protocol. A trademark is valid for 10 years and may be renewed for further periods of 10 years each.

Trade or Service marks should not consist of words, symbols or devices that:

• do not fulfil the requirements under the Law;
• is contrary to the law and morality;
• by its content may misleading as to the kind, origin, quality, maner of production or other properties of the product;
• is equal to the name of a plant variety or animal breed, in case when it might mislead the public regarding the geographical origin;
• although presents exact name of the country, region or place of product it may provokes false impression to the customer that the product originates from other country, region or place;
• is not protected in the country of origin or ceased to be used in the country of origin, and
• is identical or similar to the geographical name or trademark registered previously for identical or similar products, when there is probability to mislead the customer.