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The local distributors of goods produced by their foreign partners shall remember that they do not obtain the rights to the producer’s trademark in Latvia.

The principle that an agent (representative, franchisee, distributor, etc.) may not register in its own name the principal’s trademark has been already introduced by The Paris Convention, adopted in 1883. Nowadays, this principle is also included in most of the national trademark laws, including the trademark law of Latvia.

The local distributors of goods produced by their foreign partners shall remember that they do not obtain the rights to the producer’s trademark in Latvia. And this is notwithstanding the fact that the producer itself may fail to register its trademark in Latvia before the distribution contract is signed or that the parties’ contractual relationship has lasted for many years and the distributor has made substantial investments in marketing of the goods. Such registration of the trademark in the distributor’s name can be invalidated by the producer through the opposition or court proceedings