GCC Patent Office resumes patent applications:
Please be advised that in accordance with Paragraph 1bis/5 of Article 1 bis of the GCC Patent Law, amended per the supreme council’s resolution in its 41st session on 5th January 2021 and its subsequent implementing regulation, applicants seeking patent protection in the GCC member states may now file their patent applications directly with the GCC Patent Office as a receiving office on behalf of Kuwait & Bahrain.
The Official Gazette No. 69 dated 01/12/2022 indicated that the GCC Office will start accepting new patent applications as of 01 January 2023 and undertake their formal & substantive examination, while the patent certificates will be issued by the respective national IPO.
No suspension of Trademark Filing: Libya
We wish to kindly clarify the verbally issued administrative directive issued by the Office of the Ministry of Economy & Trading in Libya, which had stated that the Libya Trademark Office will no longer be accepting trade mark applications filed by foreign applicants with effect from 1 November 2022.
In this relation, please rest assured that this only applies to individuals and entities applying directly with the Ministry and do not apply to registered IP agents.
Issue of POA: West Bank
Recently, the TMO at West Bank issued a directive regarding the addition of the revocation clause to the power of attorney format acceptable to the office (applicable from 1 January 2023). Accordingly, all prior authorizations granted to representatives must be revoked, thereby allowing only one local agent to be responsible for all trademarks under the same applicant’s name. This would entail recordal of change of agent of service for all the files held under the registry which includes official fees thereby burdening the clients; accordingly, all the authorized agents have approached the TMO for further clarification. We will update this news shortly with definitive information.