IP Law in Iran suspended

News from a reliable source that the Intellectual Property Law in Iran has been suspended.

When the law was enacted five years ago it had a term of five years. That term has now come to an end.  As a result the Courts are not issuing decisions based on the law. A one year extension has been approved by the parliament and is due to be published in the Official Gazette in the next one to two months.

Further, useful, information on Iranian Intellectual Property Law here. 

Saudi Trade Mark Office makes records unavailable

Updated 23 July 2013:

News from a trusted source that the Trade Mark Office in Saudi Arabia is busy scanning all of the marks in its records. This is no bad thing. 

The scanning was originally to have been completed by the beginning of Ramadan but has run over in to Ramadan. 

While the scanning is being done none of the physical records of the registration certificates are available to any of the agents in Saudi Arabia. This is making daily practice exceptionally difficult.

Agents can still obtain printouts from the electronic register for clearance searches.

Original published 30 June 2013.

Saudi Arabia changes weekend to Friday/Saturday

The changes to the weekend in Saudi Arabia have been widely reported. The change takes place this weekend with the official weekend taking three days (Thursday 27 June, Friday 28 June and Saturday 29 June). As is so often the case any deadlines which fall on the weekend will be moved to the next working day (Sunday 30 June). 

Professional firms in Saudi Arabia have been used to working from Saturday to Thursday lunchtime and it will be interesting to see how they amend their work patterns. This part of the Empty Quarter can remember the changes to the weekends in the United Arab Emirates many years ago and wonders how long businesses in Saudi Arabia will take to settle in to a happy routine of having Friday and Saturday off work.

Syria - leaves the Madrid Agreement and amends fees for the Madrid Protocol

The ever informative WIPO mailing list brought news yesterday that notice No. 24/2013 relating to the "Denunciation of the Madrid Agreement: Syrian Arab Republic" is now available on the WIPO website. This follows the announcement last year that Syris is to leave the Madrid Agreement, reported here.

The usefully detailed notice can be found here. A notice was also published last week on changes to the amounts of the Individual Fee for Syria under the Agreement which can be found here.

This part of the Empty Quarter is sorry to see Syria leave the Agreement and can't help feeling that "Denunciation" sounds ever so aggressive.

Saudi Arabia – new requirement of the Administrative Court

The Administrative Court in Saudi Arabia, in which oppositions against trade mark applications must be filed, has a new requirement for non-Saudi companies filing oppositions. A simple copy of the commercial registration certificate of the company filing the opposition must be submitted with the opposition.

Saudi Arabia – Patents - accession to PCT and PLT

A WIPO email alert dated 16 May 2013 announces the accession of Saudi Arabia to the Patent Law Treaty (PLT) - Accession by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (PLT Notification No. 36) and the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) - Accession by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (PCT Notification No. 203).

More news on this significant change in local practice is expected from a number of sources soon. This part of the Empty Quarter cannot help but wonder when the remaining GCC states and the the GCC Patent Office itself will follow.

Syria – publication of the Official Gazette

With thanks to good friend Tamim Fares at  Karawani Law Firm we know that Official Gazette No. 68 was published on 28 April 2013, that the opposition period is 90 days, ends on 26 July 2013 and that a copy can be downloaded from here: Official Gazette | Issue No. 68

Qatar – Trade Mark Office – slow progress

The Qatari Trade Mark Office continues to show significant delays in processing applications. They are currenlty examing applications with numbers in the early 70,000s and an application with an application number in the region of 78,000 is not expected to be examined for another 12 or more months.

United Arab Emirates – payment of substantive examination fees

The Director of Industrial Property at the Ministry of Economy in the United Arab Emirates has notified all agents that the substantive examination fees for all pending patent applications filed between 2006 and 2007 must be paid by 9 September 2013.  The examination fees are AED7,000 (about US$1,900) and the fee to be paid when responding to each office action is AED5,000 (about US$1,360).

August 2013 public holidays

News of public holidays across the region as they come in:

Iran – 8 August to 10 August

The Holy month of Ramadan is expected to commence on about 9 July 2013 and Eid Al Fitr is expected to commence on about 7 August 2013.

Libya – Trade Mark Office

There is now a regular flow of news of the functioning of the Libyan Trade Mark Office.

The Trade Mark Office resumed work in late March 2013 after two years of inactivity and is now accepting searches, new applications, applications for recordals and is processing previous applications. With thanks to good friends at SMAS the documents to submitted at the time of filing are:

·         A Power of Attorney from the applicant, legalized up to the Consulate of Libya in the country of execution, translated in to Arabic.

·         A certified copy of an extract from the Commercial Register or Articles of Incorporation, legalized up to the Consulate of Libya in the country of execution, translated in to Arabic.

·         10 prints of the trademark.

·         If priority is to be claimed, a certified copy of the priority document issued from a signatory to the Paris Convention.

The Trade Mark Office is following the 8^th Edition of the Nice classification. Products in class 33, alcoholic beverages class 32, and Christmas trees and related products in class 28 will all be refused.  A separate application is required for each class. 

The first Official Gazette (No. 1) was published on 19 May 2013 containing applications filed in October 2008 (applications with number in the region of 15500).  The opposition period is 90 days from publication.  However, in June 2013 there are reports of delays in filing applications due to the significant volume of applications being filed by the local agents.

The part of the Empty Quarter is delighted the Trade Mark Office in Iraq is open and counsels patience to all those seeking to file applications.

BASCAP report on Free Trade Zones

The International Chamber of Commerce Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (BASCAP) has published a very interesting report on the regulation and management of Free Trade Zones. 

A well run Free Zone is a significant asset for a country. A poorly run Free Zone is a great risk to consumers, businesses and governments alike. The part of the Empty Quarter hopes that Free Zones in the region will be subject to just the right amount of regulation to ensure they do not become the focus of illegal trade.

Quick summary here 
Downloaded here