The issuance of the Implementing Regulations of the GCC Trademark Law in May 2015 marked the beginning of a new era for trademark law in the Middle East. The GCC states, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, have been actively coordinating on intellectual property matters since the late 1980s.
In 1992, the GCC Patent Regulations and the Statute of the GCC Patent Office were approved, and the GCC Patent Office commenced its operations in 1998, granting its first patent in 2002. In contrast, the GCC Trademark Law, issued in 2006 and revised in 2014, is a unifying law, not a unitary one. It establishes a set of provisions that are uniformly applied across all GCC member states for the prosecution and enforcement of trademark rights.
Each GCC country’s Trademark Office continues to serve as the receiving office and registers trademarks on a national basis. Consequently, registering a trademark across the six GCC countries still necessitates filing six separate national trademark applications.
Notably, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE have substantially increased their official fees in recent months, with Bahrain and Qatar expected to follow suit. The definition of a trademark has significantly expanded with the adoption of the GCC Trademark Law by member states. Article 2 of the Law includes color marks, sound marks, and smell marks as eligible trademarks, implying that registrations of such marks will be possible throughout the GCC.
Multiclass applications are now permitted under the GCC Trademark Law, representing a significant change in trademark practices for the previously single-class application countries in the GCC.
The registration requirements have been updated and now include a provision for foreign words, necessitating certified translations of the word or phrase and an indication of its pronunciation in Arabic, as specified in Article 4 of the Implementing Regulations.
The examination process has been harmonized, with applications being assessed within 90 days from the submission date. The Trademark Office will then notify the applicant of its decision, and 90 days is provided to respond to office actions from the date of notification before the application is considered abandoned.
The Gulf Cooperation Council Patent Office (GCCPO) has expanded its services to include Qatar, in addition to Bahrain and Kuwait. When submitting a patent application to the GCCPO, applicants have the option to designate BH, KW, and/or QA.
Once the substantive examination is completed, the GCCPO will transfer the approval to the designated national offices for publication, granting, and issuance. It is crucial to emphasize that even though these countries are parties to the Patent Cooperation Treaty, applicants who choose the GCCPO route must submit their applications within 12 months from the earliest claimed priority, as required by the GCC Patent Law.
According to the regulations, the filing, substantive examination, and the first two annuities are managed by the GCCPO. The remaining annuities, publication, and grant fees should be paid at the respective national patent offices. This procedure ensures that the patent is protected and enforced in the designated country by its national laws and regulations.
In the GCC, there are no formal laws pertaining to designs.