The new guidelines stipulate the following:

• The PoA must contain the seal and stamp of the issuing notary;
• PoAs are valid for three (3) years only. To ensure their validity, older PoAs must be stamped by the Ministry of Justice in Qatar;
• If the PoA is not drafted in Arabic, then a certified Arabic translation is required by a certified translator;
• PoAs issued by the Qatari Embassies/Consulates abroad must be attested to by Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and
• PoAs issued by foreign notaries abroad must be stamped by the Embassy/Consulate of the issuing country in Qatar and then attested to by Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

If you require more information, please contact qatar@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 new regulation stipulates that powers of attorney must revoke all prior authorisations. Further, only one local agent can be responsible for all trademarks in the same owner’s name.

The above will become effective on 1 January 2023.

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

PoAs and other required documents no longer need to be legalised by the Consulate of the UAE, i.e., notarization of the same will suffice.

A stamp of a UAE public entity (e.g. government organisations, national universities) is now regarded as equivalent to notarization.

In addition, if the inventor is an employee of a UAE company, it is possible to submit a certificate of employment or a copy of the employment contract instead of the deed of assignment.

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

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

Under this convention, an apostille stamp is given by certain authorities in the country of origin of the document. This stamp is sufficient for certification and use in other member states of this convention.

The decision was enacted by Royal Decree number M/40 dated 26/05/1443 Hijri (equivalent to 30 December 2021) and was published in the Official Gazette number 4916 dated 4/6/1443 Hijri (equivalent to 7 January 2022).

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

As a result, trademark legal actions may be pursued through SAIP’s platform and its online portal as of 15 August 2021.

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

The effective date of this is 7 July 2021.

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

If approved, this will affect all deadlines from 1 July 2021 onwards.

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

The issue contains essential terms in the intellectual property (IP) field in Arabic and English. It has been prepared to unify the terminology for making SAIP’s workflow smoother and to help raise awareness and promote the content of IP in the Middle East and North Africa.

You can download a copy of the glossary from here.

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