Gulf Cooperation Council Trade Mark Law Trade mark applicants in the Middle East will soon enjoy a harmonised regional registration process, with Bahrain becoming the fourth Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member state after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to approve the new unified GCC Trade Mark Law. While applicants will still need to file individual trade mark applications in each GCC country, the manner in which trade mark applications are filed and examined will be harmonised in each country that has approved the new law. This should help to streamline the process and provide some consistency to the manner in which trade mark applications are examined and registered within the region. The main features of the new law include: - The definition of a trademark has been broadened to include sound and smell marks; - Claims of priority based on an earlier-filed foreign application are possible; - Trademark applications accepted by the Registrar will be published for opposition purposes. Oppositions must be filed within 60 days of the publication date; - A trademark is vulnerable to cancellation by any interested party if there has been no effective use of the mark for a period of five consecutive years after registration; and - The Law gives trademark owners the right to initiate civil and criminal actions against any infringing party. Penalties include a maximum of five years’ imprisonment and payment of fines up to US $270,000.
Posted on: Tue, 17 Jun 2014 04:15:20 +0000
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