RIYADH – The Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property (SAIP) has, by Ministerial Decree number 2020/12/2, announced the possibility of registering family names as trademarks.
In addition to the requirements to register a regular trademark, a family-name-trademark must meet the following requirements:
- The applicant’s family name must be identical to the applied-for trademark;
- The applicant must provide a commercial registration under the same family name for no less than 10 years;
- The trademark cannot contain the family name alone, the family name should be distinguishable by other elements;
- The logo must be distinctive;
- The application should cover the list of goods and services where the family name has been known for, and
- Foreign trademark registration certificates of the family in question, if any.
SAIP also indicated that an owner of a different activity with the same family name may register the same as a trademark.
For more information, please contact saudi-arabia@qumsieh.com.