UAE National Day holiday

In celebration of the 41st National Day on 2 December 2012 all government departments in the United Arab Emirates will be closed on Sunday 2 December and Monday 3 December. All trade mark, patent and design deadlines falling on either day will automatically move to Tuesday 4 December 2012.

Qatar Trade Mark Office delays

There are delays at the Qatari Trade Mark Office in examining applications. They are currently examining applications with serial numbers in the range of 67000. Applications seem likely to be examined about 18 months after filing.

UAE Trade Mark Office update

The Trade Mark Office in the UAE implemented the WIPO IPAS system for the management of all its internal processes early in 2012. The system is described as excellent and requires that all steps in the various processes be undertaken. The Trade Mark Office has suffered from a shortage of staff for a number of years and many files have been misplaced in the archiving system.

New staff are to join the Trade Mark Office team shortly.

The Trade Mark Office is currently:

• processing unexamined applications from 2011 and earlier.
• asking agents to provide lists of applications from 2011 and earlier to assist in dealing with the pending matters.
• keeping applications filed in 2012 pending.
• dealing with some post registration applications.

The Trade Mark Office practice on dealing with changes of address is changing. Previously, the Trade Mark Office would rely on a Power of Attorney from the registrant with the new address as sufficient to record the change. The Trade Mark Office is now asking for a change of address certificate (legalised) showing each change of address in sequence. Official fees are now payable for each change of address (AED250). The Trade Mark Office is, at least, not asking that each change of address be published in the Trade Mark Journal (AED500).

This part of the Empty Quarter sees high official fees as a barrier to use of the trade mark registration system and, while applauding a robust process, hopes that official fees can be reduced generally or waived in specific circumstances to encourage use of the system. This part of the Empty Quarter is pleased to see the pending matters being moved on and new staff recruited as both should encourage users of the system.

OHIM and OMPIC discuss collaboration

There is a news item in the October 2012 Alicante News which mentions a meeting between OHIM and OMPIC which took place in October. The excerpt reads:

"And in the penultimate meeting in OHIM’s busy schedule in Geneva, it was the turn of one of the Office’s newest partners, Morocco, to meet with our delegation in the afternoon. Relations between the Moroccan Office OMPIC and OHIM began only recently, and OMPIC Director General Mr Adil El Maliki welcomed the opportunity for future cooperation with OHIM and, in turn, he was thanked by President Campinos for his initiative to meet with OHIM here at the WIPO General Assemblies. A number of possible collaboration initiatives were discussed, such as training for OMPIC examiners and the possibility of OMPIC attending the upcoming IP seminar for non-EU countries."

This part of the Empty Quarter welcomes OHIM providing support for Trade Mark Offices in developing and least developed countries. OHIM's cash surplus was, a few years ago, significant and while initiatives such as the Cooperation Fund and the Convergence Program are useful, it is in the developing and least developed countries that rights holders based in the EU will really feel the benefit of investment by OHIM. 

Public Holidays in Morocco

A public holiday in Morocco means that government offices are closed until 6 November, reopening on 7 November 2012.