Sudan - WIPO - PCT - National Phase – National Chapter - update

News from WIPO yesterday that the National Chapter of the National Phase of the PCT Applicant's guide for Sudan has been updated. The updated version can be found here. 

WIPO - PCT country guides

This part of the Empty Quarter recently added some further newsletters to a subscription on the WIPO website as part of WIPO changing to a new WIPO e-newsletter platform. As a result this part of the Empty Quarter now knows about the WIPO PCT Applicant's Guide (here) which provides a very large amount of very useful information on Receiving Offices, International Searching Authorities, Supplementary Search, International Preliminary Examining Authorities, Deposits of Biological Material, and National Chapters on the National Phase.

There are entries for the UAE, Bahrain, Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan (presumably North), Syria, and Tunisia.

The newsletter from WIPO reports that the National Chapter on Qatar has been updated.

UPDATE: A further newsletter from WIPO received today provides a link to the updated Annex C - Receiving Offices for Qatar which can be found here. 

This part of the Empty Quarter has a firm belief that as much information as possible should be freely available to all and is delighted to see so much information being shared by WIPO.

Eid Al Adha 2013 holidays

With thanks to good friends SMAS, who sent this out today, here is a table of government holidays across the region:

Bahrain - Monday 14 October 2013 to Saturday 19 October 2013Egypt - Monday 14 October 2013 to Saturday 19 October 2013
Iraq - Tuesday 15 October 2013 to Saturday 19 October 2013
Jordan - Monday 14 October 2013 to Saturday 19 October 2013
Kuwait - Friday 11 October 2013 to Saturday 19 October 2013
Lebanon - Tuesday 15 October 2013 to Saturday 19 October 2013
Libya - Monday 14 October 2013 to Sunday 20 October 2013
Morocco - Wednesday 16 October 2013 to Saturday 19 October 2013
Oman - Monday 14 October 2013 to Saturday 19 October 2013
Palestine - Sunday 13 October 2013 to Saturday 19 October 2013
Qatar - Sunday 13 October 2013 to Sunday 20 October 2013
Saudi Arabia - Thursday 10 October 2013 to Sunday 20 October 2013
Sudan - Saturday 12 October 2013 to Saturday 19 October 2013
Syria - Sunday 13 October 2013 to Saturday 19 October 2013
Tunisia - Tuesday 15 October 2013 to Wednesday 16 October 2013
U.A.E - Saturday 12 October 2013 to Saturday 19 October 2013
Yemen - Sunday 13 October 2013 to Sunday 20 October 2013

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.