[1] opposition

Although it is stipulated by IP Act of Cambodia that any party can file an opposition against the improper application for registration of trademark, it means the object of this opposition provision which may be a pending application, the publication procedure for pending application in Cambodia is not available now. This is very difficult for prior legitimate owner to protect their trademark rights through this opposition proceedings. So, this matter is in process of reviewing for amendment.

[2] cancellation

The question here is the cancellation on non-use ground. The Cambodia IP Act stipules that a registered trademark can be revoked upon any interested person’s request, if such mark up to one month prior to filing the request for cancellation has not been used during a continuous period of five years. However, in practice, it seems it cannot perform the cancellation on non-use ground. When the interested party filing a request for cancellation on non-use ground, the Registrar will inform the owner of such mark of a request for cancellation and simultaneously asking her/him to file an affidavit of non-use, and if an affidavit of non-use is filed then, a request for cancellation is invalid. The trademark shall be cancelled on non-use ground only if the owner of such mark does still not file an affidavit in prescribed time upon notification of the Registrar. This matter is also a problem to be amended in Cambodia.

[3] affidavit

It is clearly that the affidavit system is just a administrative management tool other than tool for effective protection of intellectual property right in Cambodia, especially the affidavit of use. The affidavit system, in some circumstances, is a barrier in performing the cancellation on non-use ground.