The project was announced in an opening ceremony and workshop held under the patronage of the Jordan Chamber of Commerce at the Landmark Hotel Amman in Jordan on 13 April 2013.

During the workshop, Mr. Nader Qumsieh, Chairman and Founder of NJQ & Associates, stated “this project is the first of its kind in the Middle East and the whole region, the main goal of this initiative is to understand the level at which brands are known to people by classifying the trademarks and create a list of the most popular and the most reliable brands in the Middle East and North Africa”.

For more information and insights into the culminating event, go to the official website of the project at www.FamousArabBrands.com.

NJQ held a workshop on 13 April 2013 in Landmark Hotel in Amman – Jordan, included a number of Jordanian business owners and officials from various governmental departments. During the workshop, Mr. Nader Qumsieh, Chairman and Founder of NJQ & Associates, stated that this project is the first of its kind in the Middle East and the whole region, the main goal of this initiative is to understand the level at which brands are known to people by classifying the trademarks and create a list of the most popular and the most reliable brands in the Middle East and North Africa.

It is worth mentioning that NJQ started preparing for this project since July 2011, the method of calculating the most famous trademarks is based on international standards in order to reach to a non-biased results.

According to Mr. Qumsieh, the main advantages from this project are:

• Knowing the popularity of a trademark aids in establishing plans and strategies to develop the product and increase the sales;
• Giving confidence amongst consumers in products baring well-known trademarks; and
• If a trademark is considered to be a famous brand will result in increasing the protection level and will give extra support in case of infringements.

HE Mr. Khaled Habankeh, Member of the Board of Directors of Jordan Chamber of Commerce, affirmed that this project will benefit trademarks owners as well as consumers and will limit the faked products in the market which by turn will leverage the growth of the national economy.

Owners of the well known trademarks, whether their marks are registered in Syria or not, must file an objection against a specific trademark registration at the TMO based on true and reasonable justifications.

The TMO will notify the owner of the infringing mark to reply to the objection within 30 day from the notification date. No legal effects on the registered rights of the mark in case no reply is filed within the deadline.

Later, the competent committee convenes and votes whether to accept the objection request or reject it. In case it voted in favor of the objection request, a cancellation application must be filed in the name of the aggrieved part at TMO.

It is worth mentioning here that the judgment whether a specific trademark is considered a well known mark or not in Syria is considered and viewed within its conformity with the content of Article 44 (b) of the Syrian Trademark Law , which institutes the notoriety of the mark on how far it is considered known to the public concerned.

For more information please send your inquiries to syria@qumsieh.com.

Our client, Seiko Holdings Kabushiki Kaisha, uses and owns the well-known trademark ALBA in class 14 in respect of watches, clocks, other horological instruments and parts thereof, in Jordan and abroad, and filed an opposition against the said application.

We based our case on the well-known trademark of our client, the registration of ALBA, even if in another class, as this will confuse the public regarding its connection with Seiko.

After full litigation, the Registrar decided to cancel the opposed trademark ALBA in Class 30.