Applicants and agents are advised to plan filings accordingly and to anticipate delays in examination, publication, and other procedural matters after this period.

For further information or assistance, please contact: erbil@qumsieh.com.

The Syrian Trademark Office has resumed the examination and acceptance of new applications, including those filed by previously restricted nationalities. While no comprehensive reforms to IP legislation have been announced, the reactivation of services signals a renewed commitment by the authorities to process and enforce registered rights within Syria’s legal framework.

Notably, while the infrastructure is functional, delays in processing and publishing remain common due to ongoing administrative limitations.

For guidance on trademark and patent filings in Syria, please contact syria@qumsieh.com.

Under the new rules, POAs are limited to a maximum validity period of five years, unless a shorter term is specified or another reason terminates the POA earlier. All notarised POAs must now explicitly state their expiration date, although expiry of notarisation does not impact the legal relationship between the parties.

Additionally, POAs issued prior to the effective date of this decree will remain valid for two years from the effective date.

The updated regulation excludes commercial agency contracts, as well as other cases that may be exempted by decision of the Minister of Justice.

For further clarification on how this may affect your IP-related POAs or filings in Kuwait, please contact kuwait@qumsieh.com.

As of October 2025, industrial design applications may now be submitted in person at the Department in the Ministry’s main building. Applicants are required to pay the applicable official fees at the reception desks after filing their application.

The Ministry has clarified that all application forms, required documents, and the adopted classification system are now available on the official website of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

The required documents are:

• Power of attorney, legalised.
• Copy of the inventor’s ID Card, passport, or commercial register.
• Copy of the applicant’s ID Card, passport, or commercial register.
• Copy of the design figures (digital images) if the design is 2-dimensional. If the design is 3D, the copies must cover all views (no more than 25 images).
• Certified copy of the priority document (if claimed).

This development signals the activation of industrial design protection in Qatar, where previously the only option to protect a design was to publish a cautionary notice containing design details in a daily newspaper.

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

The Port of Sudan office, while active, operated with limited capacity. For example, while new intellectual property applications were accepted in chronological order to preserve applicants’ priority rights, subsequent procedures—such as examination and publication—were postponed until full operations could be resumed.

With conditions in Khartoum now showing signs of improvement, the IPO has confirmed that it will fully resume its functions at its original headquarters by the beginning of November 2025.

Due to the turbulent situation, and to ensure consistency of its data, the IPO now requests that all renewal and recordal applications be accompanied by a photocopy of the trademark registration certificate, the last renewal certificate, or the last recordal certificate.

For further information, please contact sudan@qumsieh.com.

This shift requires some time, during which the TMO is not accepting new trademark applications. Additionally, trademark transactions with deadlines falling during the suspension period will not be abandoned. Instead, these deadlines will be automatically carried forward and processed once the TMO resumes its operations.

Our firm continues to monitor the situation closely and will provide timely updates as soon as additional information becomes available.

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

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

We pray for those grieving the sudden loss of loved ones and those whose homes have been destroyed. We are longing for a miraculous de-escalation of this war, asking for reason to overcome rage.

You can contact us at gaza@qumsieh.com.

The Decree was published in the Official Gazette number 31(B) on 6 August 2022, where EAIP should be structured and start its operations within a year from the publication date, i.e., 6 August 2023.

EAIP will replace the General Administration of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Models of the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade in relation to all IP matters and will fulfil its duties. It will handle all IP-related transactions and become the point of contact for applicants and agents regarding new filings, renewals, recordals, and so on.

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

The IPO will prioritise the processing of already filed applications, renewals, and recordals with due dates.

Trademark applications, however, may be filed through the Ministry’s online filing portal every Wednesday.

For urgent trademark applications, applicants may file a petition before the head of the IPO requesting an expedited process. Said petition must explain the reasons for the request.

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