Saudi Arabia - Trade Mark Office moves to soft copy registration certificates

It is the end of an era. A welcome end but one that should be marked suitably by nostalgic practitioners everywhere.  

Following the news here that the Saudi Trade Mark Office is moving to soft copy registration certificates, the first of the new soft copy registration certificates have started to appear.  This marks the beginning of the end for those of us who love trying to find a decades old original registration certificate, frayed and worn thin by passage over the years through many hands and endorsed, in some semblance of order, with all manner of renewals, changes of name, address and so on. These new soft copy only pdf certificates bear one of the new scannable 2-D pixel based barcodes which allows verification on the Ministry of Commerce and Industry website. Useful.

The Trade Mark Office have not yet decided how to deal with those endorsements which have previously been added to the original certificates. This part of the Empty Quarter expects they will follow the logical path of issuing a new certificate after each change. More new when it is available.

UAE - the Trade Mark Office is moving

News that the Trade Mark Office in Abu Dhabi is moving to a location nearer the Abu Dhabi airport in June 2014. This will make it easier for those (many) agents visiting from Dubai to reach the Trade Mark Office. The move has started with moving as many of the current and archived files as possible out of the existing premises and in to the new premises.  It will take two weeks for the Trade Mark Office to retrieve a file for an agent to inspect it until the move to the new premises is complete. 

UAE - Trade Mark Office processing very large volume of applications

Following the news reported earlier here that the Trade Mark Office in the UAE had drafted in additional examiners from Jordan to process applications the results of that labour are now being felt by agents and rights holders alike. The Trade Mark Journal published at the beginning of April contained over 4,000 applications. The Trade Mark Office has said that the Trade Mark Journal to be published at the beginning of May 2014 will contain over 7,500 applications. This will make it by far the largest monthly publication by the Trade Mark Office in the UAE ever.

This part of the Empty Quarter has seen in recent weeks applications being approved for publication in the same working week as they have been filed.

While this part of the Empty Quarter welcomes wholeheartedly quick processing of applications this must not be done without proper examination of those applications and accurate records at the Trade Mark Office. This part of the Empty Quarter has seen the accuracy of registration certificates and the quality of examinations decline notably in recent months and hopes that this, worrying, trend will be reversed so that there is a focus on quality and speed.

Jordan - new trade mark regulations for assignments, mortgages and security interests

News in a recent email from good friends SMAS contains news of new trade mark regulations in Jordan. As the item does not appear on the SMAS website, this part of the Empty Quarter is taking the liberty of reproducing it here:

"New Trademark Regulations in Jordan

We would like to draw your attention that in accordance to Article 19 Paragraph 5 of the Jordanian Trademarks Law No. 33 of the year 1952 and its amendments, the Jordanian Ministry of Industry and Trade issued the Regulations for filing a recordal of assignment, pledge and security interest of a trademark registration under No. 55 for the year 2014 effective from 1 April 2014.

According to the new regulations, a duly legalized Power of Attorney specified for the legal procedure should be submitted along with the recordal of assignment, pledge or security interest within one year from the date of signing the Power of Attorney.

Further, in relation to the recordal of assignment of a trademark registration, both parties should submit a certified copy of their Company’s Commercial Register, and the date of issuance the same should not exceed one week prior filing the recordal of assignment with the Jordanian Trademarks Office.

Should you need any assistance and/or information in respect of the above matter, please do not hesitate to contact us at Jordan@smas-ip.com

SMAS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY"

If this part of the Empty Quarter is reading this news correctly then:

- a Power of Attorney submitted in support of an application to record an assignment, pledge, or security interest should be no more than a year old when the application is submitted.
- the Trade Mark Office now require certified copies of both the assignor's and the assignee's 'Commercial Register' each of less than a week old when an assignment aplication is filed.

To this part of the Empty Quarter both of these requirements seem unnecessarily stringent and require more work to be done in less time which will cost rights holders more than before which is not welcome news.

Update: News on the same issue from good friends AGIP on their website here and from good friends Saba & Co on their website here. 

Oman - compliance with advertising regulations

The blog of Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP in Oman contains a useful summary of how to comply with advertising regulations in Oman. It can be found here. 

Oman - Franchise Agreements

The April 2014 newsletter from Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP contains an interesting summary of the provisions of Omani law relating to franchising, with a particular perspective on the franchisor. The article is not, at the time of posting, on their website but a copy can almost certainly be obtained by contacting Bruce Palmer, the Managing Partner, on bpalmer@curtis.com.

They also have an interest law blog here: http://omanlawblog.curtis.com.