Trademark Rights at Risk:

 

We wish to inform you of the possible risk that your trademarks rights may encounter when extending the trademarks protection in some of the countries where we operate. As you are aware, the GCC countries are constantly endeavoring to improve their services and have recently adopted online processing for most matters. This transition to online data has brought some flaws, resulting in incomplete data being codified on the database with some of the files not updated or lost completely for some jurisdictions, causing issues, particularly when undertaking renewals or recordals. Accordingly, any missing trademark or if its respective details are incomplete on the online portal, the same has to be updated by the IT support before implementing any post registration action; a matter which is time consuming, leading eventually to late renewals or even the loss of a trademark right due to non-renewal. Therefore, it is recommended to start the renewal action of your trademark early preferably one year before the deadline in order to have sufficient time to update or add details on the online TMO database if not available so that the trademark protection will be secured.

 

For your information, we outline hereunder the current practice adopted in the concerned jurisdiction where such issue has been observed:

 

KSA

 

All trademarks registered under the old manual system have to be incorporated into the online records through submitting an official request to the Saudi Trademarks Office  furnishing a copy of the registration certificate or the latest renewal or recordal certificate. If the requested copy is not available, a certified copy must be officially issued by the registry. It is observed that such inclusion will vary from case to case and it sometimes exceeds more than two months to be completed.

 

KUWAIT

 

According to the current practice and in absence of the mark in the online portal it is a must to furnish the Kuwaiti trademarks Office with the original registration certificate or the latest renewal or recordal certificate in order to be incorporated into the online records. Failure to submit the original aforementioned certificate the only option available will be through refiling the mark as a new application. However, in case the trademark exists on the online portal but their details or validity are not updated it is possible to submit a simple undertaking vouching for the accuracy of the missing particulars along with a scanned copy of the registration/renewal certificate to corroborate the details, thereby requesting the TMO to update the system and proceeding with the action requested.

 

UAE

 

There are very few cases where this issue has arisen under the UAE TMO, and in cases of missing trademark file information, the TM system has to be updated by furnishing a copy of the registration certificate or the latest renewal or recordal certificate. If the requested copy is not available, the registry must issue an official certified copy upon request.

 

Taking into consideration that the above-mentioned issues may be easily resolved by undertaking a simple check on the respective registries beforehand we kindly extend to you our services on a complementary basis to facilitate your future actions. We will require you to provide us with the trademark numbers of concern and jurisdiction of interest in order to assist you to ascertain the availability of the same on the respective registry . If found that a particular trademark does not have their details updated with the registry, we will undertake the same after seeking your consent.

 

TURKEY

 

Please be informed that the official fees of the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office in relation to trademarks, patents, utility models, and designs have increased, effective as of 1 January 2023 (the notification was originally published in the Official Gazette dated 31 December 2022)

 

The new fees maybe perused at the official TMO website as per below:

Trademarks: https://www.turkpatent.gov.tr/en/marka-islem-ucretleri

Patents: https://www.turkpatent.gov.tr/en/patent-islem-ucretleri

Utility Models: https://www.turkpatent.gov.tr/en/faydali-model-islem-ucreti

Designs: https://www.turkpatent.gov.tr/en/tasarim-islem-ucretleri

 

We are currently updating our fees with respect to the official fees while maintaining our professional fees.

 

IRAQ

 

It should be noted that the Iraqi Trademarks Office has recently stipulated that the Arabic transliteration of the mark must be included in any foreign trademark logo in accordance with Article 5 of Law no. 64 of 1977 for the protection of the Arabic language. In this respect, kindly be advised that the Arabic transliteration should be placed on top of the foreign trademark, noting that the Arabic transliteration will appear in the final registration certificate in the pre-obligatory search requests and new trademark applications to formally comply with the above article, while the owner can use the mark in any version without any adverse effect on the protection of the mark with regards to its use requirement.

 

Kindly note that this is a requirement that has to be fulfilled by the agents undertaking filing under this jurisdiction, who shall include the Arabic transliteration of the mark in the proposed mark in order to adhere to the said sitpulation. It is ideal that the client be aware of the transliteration of the mark that is being used in case they already have a standard Arabic version that they use in the region.

 

MAURITIUS

 

Mauritius has become the 157th Contracting State of the PCT as the instrument of accession to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) was deposited on December 15, 2022 with WIPO.

 

The PCT will come into force in Mauritius from March 15, 2023

 

GHANA

 

This is to kindly inform you that the Ghanaian government reviewal to its payment structure for industrial property services on 22 Nov. 2019 and their decision to increase the official fees thereof has been implemented starting from January 1, 2023.

 

The increase is now put into force in respect of new Trademark and patent applications with a retroactive effect for all previous pending applications, after being put on hold due to the emergence of the global pandemic Covid-19.

 

We have updated our fees with respect to the official fees while maintaining our professional fees.