Tuesday 22 October 2013

UAE Trade Mark Office - change in requirements for change of address applications

News reaches this part of the Empty Quarter of a possible change of practice at the UAE Trade Mark Office for the documents required to support an application to record a change of address. 

Before the implementation of the WIPO IPAS system the Trade Mark Office would accept a Power of Attorney from the applicant/proprietor with the new address as sufficient to record a change of address. After the implementation of the WIPO IPAS system in early 2012 the Trade Mark Office required a notarised and legalised change of address certificate issued by an official company registrar showing each change of address (or name, for a change of name) between the address on the register and the new address. Official fees for each change of address then had to be paid.  This requirement for a certificate showing each change of address caused particular issues for rights holders in countries where changes of address are not recorded or there is no official government company registrar - so particularly rights holders based in the US.

The latest news from the Trade Mark Office is that a Power of Attorney showing the new address is sufficient and intermediate changes of address will no longer need to be recorded and paid for.

This is welcome news indeed!

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