News 2015       | September, October, November & December

Libya Last Deadline to Renew Lapsed Trademarks

31 December 2015

The trademarks Registrar confirmed that it would be possible to lodge renewal applications in respect of expired trademarks, regardless to their expiry date, until 31 December 2015. After said date, all expired/lapsed trademarks will be treated as cancelled.

In this respect, it is now possible to issue registration certificates for expired applications after paying the normal renewal fee as well as paying the registration fee simultaneously.

To submit renewal applications or obtaining registration certificates, applicants are required to provide specimen of the mark, filing number, filing date, applicant details, class, and list of goods. No other documents are needed.

Increase of the official fees for trademarks matters in Kuwait

28 December 2015

The Kuwaiti Ministry of trade and industry has published their Minisitrial decision No.500 of 2015 in the Official Gazette of Kuwait (Al-Kuwait Al-Youm) issue No.1268 dated December 27, 2015 approving the GCC Trade Mark Law and its Implementing Regulations which has come into effect as of December 28, 2015. However, the Kuwait Trademarks Office has given a grace period for the local agents till the end of December to complete their pending works and the new official fees will be imposed as of January 01, 2016. The new official fees will cover all trademarks matters filed subsequent to the date January 01, 2016 as well as retroactively for pending trademark applications as regards to their publication and registration fees.

Accordingly, MBO is amending its schedule of charges with this effect in order to keep it available upon request.

Clarification about Trademarks Renewal in Libya

21 December 2015

The trademarks Registrar confirmed that pursuant to a large number of clarification emails received from around the world regarding some news circulating the feasibility of renewing lapsed trademarks until December 31, 2015 leading to misinformation going viral and leading to a flurry of correspondence; we hereby confirm that we have verified the matter with the Libyan Trademarks Office and have been informed that they have not issued any official Circular stating the possibility of renewing lapsed marks and that trademarks registration are renewed according to the regulation prescribed by Libyan Law.

As an update news in Libya, kindly be informed that:

  1. The office starting issuance the registration certificated since June 2015 for registration number from 5000 to 6000, and we have received some for our clients, regards the applications have filing number less than 5000, the office has not yet take any decision because most of them are expired.
  2. The office start accepting renewal applications since year 2013, and they have already issued the official notification concerning the application which already applied.
  3. The renewal application should be submitted in the last year of protection period which is ten years from filing date or within six years from expiration date. After the expiry of the grace period, the Registrar shall proceed to cancel the said mark from the Register and the lapsed mark cannot be restored. However, the owner of the mark can re-file a fresh application of the lapsed mark in order to pursue the protection of the mark as according to the Libyan Trademarks Law lapsed trademark for non-renewal shall not be registered in favor of other third party for use in relation in the same products for a period of 3 years from the date of cancellation.

Industrial property rights infringement complaint are now enforced by the Directorate of Industrial Property in Bahrain

1 December 2015

We have received an official circular from the Directorate of Industrial Property informing us that they are now open to receiving infringement cases with regards to Trademarks, Design and Patent protected within the Kingdom and have supplied us with the necessary forms in this regards. The complaint is filed at the Industrial Property Control Section within the Directorate of Industrial Property.

Complaint Requirements:

  1. A power of attorney with an Apostille certification if the country of the applicant company is a member of the Hague Convention; otherwise the power of attorney should be legalized up to a Bahraini consulate abroad.
  2. Copy of the registration certificate of the trademark/design/patent in Bahrain which has been infringed.
  3. Copies and Samples of client and infringed mark/design/patent.

The representative of the complainant can help the inspectors to allocate the infringed products and premises.

No official fees are applied for this kind of services by the Directorate of Industrial Property. For our professional charges to conduct this action please do not hesitate to contact us at info@mbo-law.com

UAE Online Trademark and Renewal Services

29 September 2015

The Ministry of Economy at the United Arab Emirates announced that it will launch an online trademark filing and renewal services offered by the Department of Trademarks, this service will be applied from December 6, 2015.

The service will assist local agents in UAE in filing new trademarks and renew their applications online.

Turkey Increase in Official Fees

26 September 2015

The Turkish Ministry of Finance has announced verbally that the official fees for most intellectual property transactions will be raised at various rates. The said decision is likely to be effective as from January 1, 2016. This increase will affect all trademark, patent, and industrial design applications filed after said date as well as retroactively for pending applications.

It is our kind recommendation that applications for any registration should be filed as soon as possible to save filing costs.

Substantive Examination Patent is to start in Oman

25 September 2015

The Sultanate of Oman declared officially as per official notification dated November 8, 2015 that the substantive examination fees for patent applications formally accepted in 2009 will be due within two months from the date of announcement.

This comes in consequent to signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Omani and the Egyptian Patent Offices, where the Egyptian Patent Office acts as the examining office for all pending and new patent applications filed in Oman.

For the Omani Patent Office to examine substantially all patents accepted formally within the above year a request by the applicant or his agent should be submitted for substantive examination with the payment of the examination fees of Omani Riyals 300 (equivalent to USD ) for all patent applications which are accepted formally and all their formalities are in order.

Failure to submit the request for substantive examination for patents along with a copy of formal examination acceptance in two months from the date of this notification; i.e. 8 January 2016 will be considered as cancelled and in accordance with article 9 ( 5) a and b of the Industrial Property Law no. 67/2008.

Therefore, we would kindly urge all patents applicants to look into their patents and send us their instructions to pay the substantive examination fees well in advance before the two months of the date of this notification.

Kuwait increase in Official Fees

15 September 2015

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Patents and Trademarks in Kuwait has verbally announced that the official fees for trademarks registration will be increased dramatically. The said decision is likely to be effective as from December 21, 2015. Please note that the Trademarks Registrar will apply the new fees for all trademark/patent/design matters filed subsequent to said date as well as retroactively for pending trademark applications as regards their publication and registration.

To mention a few, please be advised that the current fees of filing and registration (including publication) of a trademark is 24 USD and 58 USD respectively; the new fees is expected to be 264 USD for filing and 1586 USD for publication and registration.

Latest updates in Iran

12 September 2015

Maddock & Bright IP Law Office would like to inform its Clients, Friends & Colleagues, that the Iranian Trademark Office has issued notification to the effect that the requirement to legalize the certificate of incorporation/commercial registry certificate/business license for trademark registration is longer in force and instead a notarized copy or a copy certified by the company registration office shall suffice.

Latest updates in Gaza

9 September 2015

Maddock & Bright IP Law Office would like to inform its Clients, Friends & Colleagues, that the Trademark Registry in Gaza by virtue of Ministerial Decision No. 16 of 2010, issued on August 1, 2010, it is no longer possible to file new trademark applications in class 32 covering beers and lager, or renew trademarks which had been previously registered. The notification reaffirms the prohibition of registration of beers trademarks under the said jurisdiction.