Said decision took effect on 1 September 2016. Accordingly, we ask our clients to send us legalised PoAs as well as other original documents related to any recordal transactions along with their instructions.

Priority documents, however, do not require legalisation and can be submitted within 2 months of the filing date (a photocopy by email is required for filing).

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

Previously, only companies were allowed to apply for trademark registrations. Any individual who does not have commercial register is not entitled to seek trademark registration.

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

Accordingly, the late filing of documents is allowed for a period of sixty (60) days, after that a payment of OR20 (approximately US$55) will be required. Nonpayment will result in the application lapsing.

The above regulation will come into effect on 1 July 2015.

If you need more information, please contact us at oman@qumsieh.com.

Coinciding with this change, users of the OHIM system will have the option to file their trademarks with a new “Fast Track” procedure starting on 24 November 2014.

The advantages of the Fast Track:

• Fast Track applications will be published from 4 to 6 weeks or less from the date they are paid, which is half the time as compared to regular applications, and
• Applications save 2 months time from filing to registration.

Regular applications are published from 8 to 11 weeks from payment of the official fees.

Users can choose the Fast Track option for free, but there are some conditions that must be met:

• Users have to select their goods and services from the OHMI’s harmonised database, which contains pre-validated and pre-translated terms, and
• Fees have to be paid at the end of the application process or immediately after submission.

This means that applicants can have a fully registered CTM trademark within 5-6 months.

Where a custom list of goods is required to achieve most coverage, to ensure protection, and to avoid conflicts with other trademarks, the regular paced proceeding is the best option for that purpose.

Should you have any questions please contact info@qumsieh.com.

The main aspects of the said decision are listed below.

Classification of the list of goods and services
Applicants may list the goods and services of interest with or without referring to the class number. Several classes may by listed under same application, however the Sudan Trade Marks Act of 1969 recognises Nice Classifications and applies a single class system.

Filing requirements
A legalised power of attorneys and extract from commercial register should accompany the application.

However, the matter of authentication of documents is not clear at the Trademark Office. For example, while documents are required to be legalised by the South Sudan consulates, there are no consulates abroad, making the notarization of power by notary public acceptable.

Publications and oppositions
The Trademark Office is not publishing any accepted applications for opposition purposes according to the Sudan Trade Marks Act of 1969. Within a few days after completing the formalities, the trademark is registered and the registration certificate is issued.

However at any time, it is possible to file an opposition against any registered trademark before the Registrar and then appeal at the High Court.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that a draft law has passed to the government. We are trying to obtain a copy, and it is hoped to be implemented by the end of this year.

For more information please contact us at info@qumsieh.com.

• New trademark applications will only be accepted if accompanied by a legalised PoA (late filing within 3 months is no longer permissible);
• Recordals to change name, address, assignments, mergers, etc . are only allowed after the registration of the subject trademark; however, corrections of typos are the only accepted type of modifications to a non-registered trademark (during prosecution of the application), and
• Oppositions must include a PoA when initiating an opposition against a published mark.

If you have any questions regarding the above, please contact us at uae@qumsieh.com.

Furthermore, the following information must be indicated clearly on each PoA:

• Full name and address of the applicant;
• Name and title of signatory person;
• Trademark name and prints of the mark if the mark is logo, and
• The intended class(es) of goods/services of the application.

For more information, please contact us at algeria@qumsieh.com.

Filing requirements in respect to the new procedure
A power of attorney (PoA) must be locally legalised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Consulate stamp must be authenticated aboard. After that, the PoA must be uploaded on the SATMO website and the owner details have to be provided in a designated form. After approval of the uploaded PoA by the examiner, applications for the same owner can be filed through the online system.

Validity of the PoA
Any PoA relating to any trademark application is valid for 10 Hijri years; 1 Hijri year is 11 days less than the Gregorian year, so the validity of the PoA will last 10 Gregorian years minus 110 days.

Notices
All notices issued by SATMO relating to the applications filed online (e.g. acceptance, office action, or rejection) will be sent to the representative of the trademark via e-mail.

Acceptance and Publications
All accepted applications will be advertised through the SATMO website and not the Trademark Journal “Umm Al Qura” as per the previous practice. However, these publications will be removed from the website after the expiration of the opposition period.

Pros of the new system

• It is possible to monitor the application and is progress online;
• The examination has been speeded up;
• Official filing fees can now be paid within 30 days from the application date and after receiving the official notification of payment by the system along with the filing number, which is generated automatically; failing to do so, will result in the application lapsing. Previously, payment of fees had to be made before obtaining the filing number and filing date;
• Since there is no possibility of amending the application after its submission, in case of discrepancy, it is possible to abandon the application by refraining from paying the official filing fees. In this case, the application will lapse and the applicant can file a new application immediately. Note that Saudi Arabia adopted 10th Nice classification system of list of goods and services, however, Class 33, alcoholic goods in class 32, pork meat in class 29, and Christmas trees and related products in class 28 cannot be registered, and
• It is expected that the e-filing system will be applied on searches, renewals and recordals shortly.

Cons of the New System

• Late filing of the PoA or advanced copy thereof by e-mail is not accepted any more, and
• General items in the list of goods and services are not acceptable; applicants are required to choose from the available list of goods and services provided on the SATMO website without the possibility of making any changes or amendments. This requires extra time and effort by agents to get approval from the applicant.

For more information, you can contact our KSA office at saudi-arabia@qumsieh.com.

The IP protection was sought through French registrations in Mahore (Mayotte), however, since there was no IP law in the remaining islands, the protection was obtained by publishing a Cautionary Notice in a daily newspaper to cover the remaining 3 islands.

Now, the Comoros Islands has ratified the Bangul Agreement to become the 17th Member State of the OAPI jurisdiction effective as of 25t May 2013.

Accordingly the admission of the new county has the following impact:

OAPI registration before joining the new country
All OAPI registrations before the accession of The Comoros will cover the original 16 member states with possibility of extension to The Comoros after payment of official fees.

OAPI pending application before joining the new country
All applications pending registration or applications under examination can be extended to cover The Comoros as above.

Renewal of Trademarks at OAPI
All trademarks with renewal due dates that fall after 25 May 2013 (the effective date) shall automatically cover the 17th member state even if the extension application to The Comoros was not applied for.

Extension of OAPI registrations to The Comoros
A trademark owner can apply for the extension of rights from or to The Comoros within twenty months of the effective date. Therefore, applicants can file applications for extension of rights in either manner, before the 25 January 2015. That being said, it is advisable to file an extension request at the earliest to have earliest effective date of protection.

The power of attorney must be submitted within 6 months from the date of filing the trademark application, otherwise the application will be considered to have gone abandoned.

It is worth mentioning that the PoA must be legalized by the Iraqi Consulate abroad then locally legalized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Central Bank, and Ministry of Justice in order to be accepted.

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