For more information, please contact iraq@qumsieh.com.

In order to assist with the smooth implementation of these new measures, the Ministry has delegated an officer from the LTMO to be present at the Customs Office to verify the genuineness of the incoming goods. When spotting a suspected product, Customs will hold the shipment for two weeks and will contact the registered representative of the applicant on record to take further action and then the case will be transferred to the public prosecutor.

For more information, please contact us at lebanon@qumsieh.com.

Following the recent regulations of border measures, it is possible now to register trademarks at customs department. This registration will serves as a circular to all custom boarders to watch incoming shipments of goods suspected of bearing false or counterfeited products or similar or identical trademarks. Customs officials will confiscate any products alleged of being counterfeited and will inform the registered trademark owner to take legal action within 10 days.

Registraion with the customs’ requirements are:

1. Power of attorney legalised up to the Sudanese consulate at your end.
2. Certified copy of trademark registration certificate in Sudan, can be obtained by us.
3. Samples or photocopies of the original products.

Please note that registraion with customs is valid for ONE year and can be renewed annually.

The new introduced regulations come as precautionary measures to stop and hinder any possible shipment of fake products or bearing false trademarks.

In light of the above, trademarks’ owners can now ask Customs authorities to impound and seize any shipment of goods thought to be carrying fake products or identical to registered trademarks in Sudan. If this is the case, a legal suit should be immediately instituted before the court within ten days; otherwise the customs officials will release the seized shipment. Registered trademarks owners will have the right to check the confiscated products and if the court found that these products are counterfeited they will be destroyed.

The case brought to the court from the Jordanian Customs department who stopped a shipment of goods bearing a trademark identical to the registered mark WAVES in class 3 for cosmetics registered in the name of MUSTAFA MANASRAH TRADING CO.

In a quick response the said company filed a legal suit before the court asking for seizure of these imitated goods and destroying them and bearing the defendant the losses and all court expenses.

The court found the defendant guilty of importing goods carrying a trademark identical to a registered trademark and entering goods with very bad quality.

To get more details please contact us at legal@qumsieh.com.

To facilitate this, the Customs Department has created a new “Procedures/ Tariffs Division” that works in close contact with the Trademarks Registrar.

Trademark owners/representatives must register with the sad division in order to be notified upon the arrival of any infringing products prior to their clearance.

The registration requirements are:

1. Contact details of trademark owner/ legal representative, with proof of ownership.
2. For trademarks, particulars thereof (i.e. name and/ or device, registration number, date and goods bearing the trademark), and marks included in agency/ distributor agreements if any.
3. For copyrights, a detailed description of the item of concern, its nature, form and the name of the author and other characteristics.
4. General description, source and any additional information that may assist the Customs Department in identifying the infringing products.

When products enter the country, they are checked against the existing records If the Customs Department finds visible evidence that the source, nature, quality and form of a product is different from the original, the designated officer issues a written statement in this regard and the Central Officer then carries out an examination of the goods in question.

If sufficient proof of violation is found then action is taken to stop the clearance of the infringing products.

The “Procedures/ Tariffs Division” is notified and consequently coordinates with either the Trademarks Registrar or with the National Library depending on the nature of infringement. The division is also responsible for notifying the original trademark owner, who must in turn initiate legal proceedings at the relevant courts within 8 days of notification; otherwise the infringing products are released provided important requirements are in order.

If an Intellectual Property owner is aware of any infringing products entering the country, he is also able to initiate this procedure from his end by filing an application at the court and submitting evidence of rightful ownership from damages that might arise in case the applicant was proven wrong in his claim.

Once the courts issue their decision, the Customs Department is notified and the “Procedures/ Tariffs Division” is subsequently entrusted with the execution of the decision.

The above procedures will no doubt contribute to limiting the trade of pirated or infringing products that mislead consumers and harm the interests of their rightful owners.