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.

Colour photocopies of the required documents can now be uploaded upon filing the application. Originals shall be supplied within 1 month of the filing date. Earlier practice of providing the original documents upon submitting the application has been discontinued.

Further, the Qatari Trademark Office (QTMO) has adopted the 11th Edition of the Nice Classification.

Finally, the QTMO now accepts trademark applications filed by individuals. Previously, a trademark application filed in Qatar had to be filed by a legal entity or company.

Should you have any questions, please contact qatar@qumsieh.com.

Pursuant to the provisions of the Articles Nos. 21 and 26 of the Iraqi Trademark Law for the year 1957, the below has been implemented effective on 29 November 2017:

• After submitting a request for examination for a trademark application, and if the examination result is positive, applicants have a 30-day period to commence the registration procedures from the date of advertising of said result. Otherwise, the application will lapse.
• Once a trademark has registered, applicants should provide the required documents within 6 months of the registration date; failing to do so, the Registrar will send a default notice to the applicant allowing a further 7-day grace period to do so, after which the application will be removed from the register.
• Renewal and recordal applications can be made against registered trademarks only. Applications pending registrations are not eligible for such actions.

Moreover, pursuant to the provisions of the Article No. 11 of the Iraqi Trademark Law for the year 1957, accepted trademarks will be published in three consecutive editions of the Official Gazette with one-week interval between each edition, subject for the opposition period of 90 days from the date of the last publication. This regulation is effective following the publication of the Official Gazette No. 557 published on 20 November 2017.

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

• The definition of a trademark is extended to include colour, sound and olfactory marks;
• Multi-class applications will become possible;
• It will be possible to claim priority based on an earlier-filed foreign application, and
• Opposition against published applications must be filed within 60 days from the date of publication where previously it was 90 days; however, a request for extension of time to file an opposition will not accepted.

It is not clear whether the official fees will increase or not, this will be determined by the beginning of the next month. Moreover, the official fees related to multi-class applications is yet to be decided.

Should you have any questions, please contact saudi-arabia@qumsieh.com.

• When submitting applications for recordal of assignment, change of name and address, and merger, original copies of the required documents should accompany the application;
• A grace period of six months from the filing date is allowed for the late filing of the power of attorney with respect to new trademark applications;
• It is no longer required to provide transliteration for Non-Arabic trademarks. This will not affect previously filed applications, meaning that publication of pending applications will include the transliteration of the mark; additionally, renewal of expired trademarks will show the transliteration on the renewal certificate;
• Applicants are required to submit an examination request for each mark in each class (even if the mark is filed as multi-class application) after payment of the prescribed fees. The examination result is expected to be issued within 10 days from the date of the payment of the examination fees, and
• The Registrar will inform the applicant if any sub-class gets refused.

Should you have any questions, please contact iraq@qumsieh.com.

1. The applicant or its representative will be informed about the acceptance of the patent application to pay the advertisement fees to publish the application in the Intellectual Property Journal issue of the following month;
2. If no oppositions were raised during the 2 month opposition period, the applicant or its representative must furnish copies of the patent along with the granting fees, as no patent will be issued without payment of the required fees, and
3. It is requested that publication and registration fees are paid on time to avoid delay of the issuance of the letters patent.

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

• Legalised power of attorney (PoA) document and its official translation (the official translation is to be provided for each application), and
• Certified company registration certificate (positive proof of identity) and its official translation (the official translation is to be provided for each application).

So, even if we are filing multiple trademark applications for the same applicant, we need to submit official translations of the documents for each application.

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

Please note that any published trademark will be open for opposition within three months from the date of publication in the Gazette.

If you have any questions or need assistance please contact us at iraq@qumsieh.com.

The main aspects of the changes are:

• Sound marks can be registered now;
• Multiple-class application is possible;
• Electronic filing will be applied;
• The time frame has been defined for processing the examination of new applications, oppositions, cancellation actions, etc;
• Improvement to the opposition system, including the limitation and definition of the opposition and grounds for filing opposition;
• A trademark renewal application can be filed within 12 months prior to the expiration of its validity term, which is twice the length of time of the current practice of 6 months;
• The introduction of new Unfair Competition Act;
• Introducing the principle of well-known trademark recognition;
• Enhancing the protection of the exclusive right to use a trademark;
• Reinforcing the intensity of countermeasures against preemptive trademark registration, and
• Regularising the behavior of trademark agencies by imposing penalties on such agencies who commit any act considered by the administrative authority for industry and commerce to be done on bad faith or construed unfair competition.

For more clarifications, please contact info@qumsieh.com.

After a trademark application has been examined, instead of being published in the Official Gazette (Um Al Qura) it must be published online on the specially designed website by the Saudi Arabian Intellectual Property Office for that purpose.

Accordingly, the official fees for publication have been increased from SR 540 to SR 1000 (USD$ 144 to USD $ 267).

This new regulation became effective on the above mentioned date and will apply to new applications as well as applications pending publication.

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