Update to 10th Edition of the Nice Classification

WIPO's ever useful email news list reports that there is an update to the 10th Edition of the Nice Classification which will come into effect on 1 January 2013. The Information Notice can be found here.

This is not quite so useful for practitioners in the Gulf. Only Bahrain is a party to the Nice Agreement.  Kuwait, Oman and the UAE follow the Ninth edition, Saudi Arabia the Eighth and Qatar the Seventh.

This part of the Empty Quarter wonders what might be holding back the various Trade Mark Offices from adopting the current (or at least most recent) version of the Nice Classification. Uniformity in the classification system assists rights holders. This part of the Empty Quarter also wonders if the UAE Trade Mark Office will be better able to adapt to the newer classification now that they are using the WIPO IPAS system.

Domain name news from Egypt, Sudan, and Tunisia

The Com Laude (www.comlaude.com) newsletter is packed with interesting news presented clearly and concisely covering all things domain related from around the world. The Winter 2012 Newsletter is not yet on their website but reports developments in Egypt, Sudan and Tunisia. 

For Egypt Com Laude report: ".eg - second-level for marks. The Egyptian Registry, EUN, has lifted restrictions on .EG domains for trademark holders. since 12 November 2012, second-level .EG domain names have been available for holders of trade marks registered in Egypt either regionally, through the Egyptian Trademarks Office, or internationally through WIPO. Previously a local presence was required. Domains should match the trademark registration, however they may not be used for websites which go against local traditional and conventional ethics, for example gambling, alcoholic beverages, or sexual websites. Domains must be used by the owner only and shouldn't be sold to any institution unless related to the registered owner. It is estimated that there are just under 30 million Internet users in Egypt, a country which famously severed the majority of its Internet connection amid growing unrest in January 2011."


For Sudan Com Laude report: " Sudan passes IDN String Evaluation. ICANN has announced the successful completion of the string Evaluation on the proposed Arabic IDN ccTLD string for sudan. The IDN (Internationalised Domain Name) ccTLD Fast Track Process was approved by the ICANN Board at its annual meeting in seoul, south Korea on 30 October 2009 and enables countries and territories to submit requests to ICANN for IDN ccTLDs, representing their respective country or territory names in scripts other than Latin. 31 requests have successfully passed through the string Evaluation so far, including most recently мон, the Cyrillic IDN ccTLD string for Mongolia, in June 2012."


For Tunisia Com Laude report: " .tunis in Arabic - “Go Live” begins. The Tunisian Internet Agency, ATI, is hoping to encourage the development of Arabic content and increase the visibility of local content internationally through the launch of the new Arabic IDN (.tunis). The Go Live Period is now open to anyone who wants to register. The new extension currently accounts for 2.79%of the 16,917 domains registered in Tunisia, a country with an estimated population of just under 10.7 million."

This part of the Empty Quarter thanks Com Laude for their excellent newsletter and for news about goings on with domains in the sand.

Saudi Arabian Trade Mark Office amends renewal procedure

With thanks to good friends Nassir Kadasa & Partners there is news that the Trade Mark Office has made a small but significant amendment to the renewal procedure. In the past the renewal of a trade mark could be filed and the original registration certificate could be supplied later for endorsement with the renewal. The new procedure requires that the original registration certificate is submitted with the renewal application. 

This part of the Empty Quarter looks forward to a time when an original registration certificate does not have to travel many miles for the physical endorsement of a renewal or change in the registrant's details.

Saudi Arabian trade mark publication rules changed

News from good friends SMAS Intellectual Property that the Saudi Ministry of Commerce and Industry has issued Ministerial Decision No. 1147 dated 16 October 2012. Their news release reads:

"...the Saudi Ministry of Commerce and Industry has issued a new Ministerial Decision No. 1147 dated 16 October 2012; in which Articles 1, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17, 20, 23, 24, 27, 29, 32 & 40 of the Implementing Regulations of Trademark Law have been amended.

The Ministerial Decision amended the method of publication of the trademark application, and all transactions pertinent thereto, including renewal, assignment, pledge, license, cancellation to be on the website of Ministry of Commerce and Industry and/ or any other location specified by the said Ministry instead of the publication of the same in the Saudi Official Gazette.

Further, once the application is accepted the applicant and/or his representative should pay the publication fees within thirty days of the date of acceptance; otherwise the application will be considered abandoned.

The Trademark Office has modified the official publication fees accordingly."

The news release from SMAS does not confirm from when this new regime will come in to effect. 

This part of the Empty Quarter welcomes this news. Publication in the Official Gazette increased the cost of publication for longer specifications and delayed the publication of marks as there was fixed amount of space in each Official Gazette. Any step which reduces the steps to registration of marks is one which is welcomed. Rights holders who have paid additional publication fees in advance may be able to obtain a refund from their local trade mark agent.

Iran - electronic trade mark application system launched

Raysan Patent & Trademark Agents (www.irantm.com or www.raysanip.com) have shared the news of the launch of an electronic application system. Their announcement says:

"The Iranian Trade Marks Registry launched trade mark electronic application system on November 18, 2012 that allows trade mark applications to be submitted online. This development follows successful inauguration of electronic application system for patents and industrial designs a few months ago.

Currently, the Trade Marks, Patents and Industrial Design Registries only accepts electronic filing of applications.There have been no changes in filing procedures or formalities requirement, but a new application number format will be assigned automatically by the electronic application system. The original supporting documents (i.e. power of attorney, applicant's incorporation document) are still required to be submitted to the Office in hard copy.

The electronic platform for filing of trade mark applications and workflow system is available at http://iripo.ssaa.ir. The platform is only designed in Persian and no English version is available yet.

The system provides for examination, correspondence, publication and registration procedures electronically. However, the opposition, hearing, renewal, assignment and license recordation procedures are handled as before.

The Iranian Patent Office and Industrial Design Office have launched the electronic application system a few months ago. The electronic platforms for filing of patent and industrial design applications and workflow system are available only in Persian at the same address at http://iripo.ssaa.ir.

The Iranian Industrial Property Office is gradually shifting to a completely paperless office in a phased manner during the next years."

The part of the Empty Quarter welcomes this news.  Any system which simplifies the application process will generally increase efficiency making the system more likely to be used. It is no surprise that the platform is only available in Persian.