Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Moldova (CCI) jointly with the State Agency on Intellectual Property (AGEPI) have launched on 7 November this year the Contest “Trademark of the Year-2014”. Economic agents which own registered trademarks and want to participate in the contest may submit, beginning with November 7, an application for registration.

In order to stimulate the participation in the Contest of several small and medium enterprises that own trademarks, organizers offer a discount of up to 50% of the fee for participation in the contest and discounts of 20% for a list of services provided by the Chamber of Commerce and industry, such as promotion of trade offers, participation in exhibitions and trade missions, issuance of certificates of origin, etc. Also this year, for the nomination “Debut of the Year” can sign up not only companies that have acknowledged trademarks, but also those that have just develop their own brand and have filed an application with the AGEPI, but have not yet registered the trademark.

CCI President, Valeriu Lazar, declared in the press conference, organized on the occasion of launch of the Contest, that the Contest “Trademark of the Year”, fits into a series of events entitled “Made in Moldova”, which includes the proper exhibition, the contest “Trademark of the Year” and the Quality Award. These events were integrated into a single concept, with the slogan “Competitiveness - Performance and Quality”. Accordingly, all events will have a single organizing committee, in which were included both representatives of the relevant public institutions, and partners of the private and associative sector.

According to Lilia Bolocan, Director General of the State Agency on Intellectual Property (AGEPI), more than 1,500 new trademarks are submitted annually for registration by enterprises in our country, but in the contest were signing up the same companies with an impressed portfolio of registered trademarks and a reputation acquired over time. At the same time, enterprises that sign up in the competition will benefit from advertising in the publications of AGEPI, courses and free consultancy upon registration of trademarks, free intellectual property pre-diagnosis services provided by AGEPI specialists and others.

Another piece of news of the current edition is reduction in the number of categories of the contest from 17 to 11. It was also introduced a new nomination – “Acknowledged Trademark”, to which are invited to participate companies that own more than 5 awards of the previous competitions.

The most important distinction of the contest is “Golden Mercury”.

The contest was initiated in 2003 and is the only contest in the Republic of Moldova that has legal power to give the winners the right to use the symbols “Trademark of the Year” for advertising purposes, on goods and labels.

The contest culminates with the official Ceremony of awarding the winners, which will be held in late January 2015.

The application for participation and the completed file are submitted to the Fairs and Exhibitions Division of the CCI of RM (151, Stefan cel Mare boul., MD-2004, Chisinau).

The deadline is December 24, 2014.

Information necessary for the participation in the contest can be found attached:

• Contract adhesion;
• Conditions of participation;
• Regulations of the contest “Trademark of the Year 2014”;
• Organizing Committee;
• Indicators:
  • Indicators “Debut of the Year”;
  • Indicators "Consumer Appreciation";
  • Indicators "Export";
  • Indicators "Favorite of the Year”;
  • Indicators "Inter";
  • Indicators "Acknowledged Trademark”;
  • Indicators "Local Trademark”;
  • Indicators "Socially Responsible”.

More details can be found at: www.marca.chamber.md.

Source: Press release of CCI