As per the practice followed in SAIP, appeals against trademark examiner refusal decisions, trademark oppositions, and infringement and breach complaints are handled by a designated committee appointed by the administration. The General Secretariat of the committees has started by publishing decisions related to copyright infringement complaints and will expand the scope to include decisions related to trademarks and patents.

For more information, please contact saudi-arabia@qumsieh.com.

Applicants (or their agents) can request a second review of their preliminary examinations in case of a negative decision, copies of documents, original powers of attorney, and many more items. The prescribed fees of IQD50000 (US$35) must be paid for such requests.

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

For more information, please contact saudi-arabia@qumsieh.com.

The new law affects patents, industrial designs, utility models, and trade secrets. The major changes to the current law are as follows:

• Introducing a 12-month grace period to file a patent application after its disclosure;
• The possibility to request an accelerated examination;
• Increased protection period of the industrial design for up to 20 years, and
• Allowing the patentability of purpose-limited product claims.

The Council of Ministers is expected to draft the implementing regulations of this law before the end of 2021. Until then, the implementation of the provisions of current Federal Law shall continue.

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

The Department also announced an additional 20% increase on the official fees on all trademark matters handled by the electronic system, with a minimum charge of OMR20 (equivalent to US$52) per application.

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

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.

SAIP also clarified that geographical indication collective marks can be registered for products that have a specific geographical origin and characteristics or reputation attributed to that origin, expressing that their registration as collective marks contributes to distinguishing the geographical origin, materials, or method of manufacture or other common characteristics of goods or services provided.

It is required to include the following along with the trademark application:

• Power of attorney, legalised;
• The exact description of the trademark;
• Certified copy of the bylaws of the union or organisation requesting the registration, with its amendments;
• An indication of the persons entitled to use the mark and their relationship with the applicant, and
• A legalised affidavit that the applicant (organisation) will closely monitor the use of such mark by its affiliate members and an explanation on how members are qualified for membership in the organisation.

For more information, please contact saudi-arabia@qumsieh.com.

The increase includes the publication for opposition purposes, the publication after registration, the publication of renewals, and the publication of recordals, and will affect new applications as well as applications pending publication, effective from 22 October 2020.

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

Accordingly, all expired due dates have been extended until 8 October 2020. In addition, all lapsed registrations are extended until said date, allowing applicants to submit renewal/annuity applications.

The above new regulation means that all penalties for late renewals or submission of documents have been removed. Expired grace periods for renewals are also now reinstated until 8 October.

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

Complaints against infringing trademarks, patents, and industrial designs can be filed online, effective 20 May 2020. This decision was circulated on 21 May 2020.

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