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.

Therefore, the requirement to submit a legalised PoA annually has been abolished.

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

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 circular states that the legalised PoA is valid for only one (1) year. Therefore, agents must submit a new legalised PoA annually to maintain the applicant’s trademark registration. The same applies to the commercial register document. Failing to do so will result in the cancellation of the registration.

You can find a copy of the circular here.

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

This new practice simplifies the trademark renewal process in the UAE for owners without going through the legalisation of PoAs. Prior practice required a legalised PoA with the trademark renewal application.

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

To do that, IP agents need to book an appointment with the Ministry, which could take up to a month to secure. Once booked, the agent must appear in person before the Ministry. This procedure can be an obstacle in case of a priority claim, renewal deadline, or any other matter with a deadline.

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

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

It is still possible, however, to submit a fully legalised POA within the six (6) month period.

For more information, please contact iraq@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.