Worldwide: Change Of Representative And Trademark Portfolios Management / PCT Update Iraq And 12th Edition Nice Classification In KSA

It goes without saying that trademarks are real and vital assets that significantly help companies and entrepreneurs grow their businesses and distinguish their services and products within the consumer community. Therefore, companies strive to maintain their trademark portfolios activeness and validity post-registration.

Generally, the agent of service entrusted with the trademark portfolio(s) is bound to signal any change or update about the trademark portfolio to the trademark(s) owner and keep an eye on any possible infringement or filing of similar trademarks so that necessary actions can be taken timely. But sometimes, however, communication with the agents of service is lost or abrupted due to myriad reasons which could cause serious issues to the IP assets of the company, eventually leading to losing IP rights. To minimize the risk and have it under control, changing of representative becomes imperative, even though the procedure may be costly and burdensome in some instances.

We describe hereunder the charges and optionality for changing the agent of service in the MENA region for post-registration actions as well as for pending trademark applications, for your kind attention and ease of reference:

JAH Intellectual Property management has decided not to charge any professional fees for change of agent of service.

General Power of attorney

JAH Intellectual Property has always put its client interest and satisfaction at the heart of its principles. Therefore, we have designed a General Master Power of Attorney which needs to be legalized up to a Jordanian consulate, by virtue of which we can represent our clients in the jurisdictions of our operation.

Usually, with the general power of attorney, we can sign sub-powers of attorney on behalf of the clients for countries that require powers of attorney to be simply signed to our branch offices namely: Gaza, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia & Djibouti. Furthermore, we may also secure guaranteed approval of the general power of attorney in countries where only scanned copy of the same is required namely: Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Jordan. Lastly, we will also be able to execute sub-powers of attorney to our branch officers and have the same legalized up to the respective consulates in the jurisdictions where powers of attorney need to be legalized up to the respective consulates, which are UAE, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, while we shall execute sub-powers of attorney based on the general power of attorney by the notary public for Pakistan and Sudan. As for Qatar, Bahrain and the West Bank we shall only have the general power of attorney legalized up to these jurisdictions' respective consulates.

In doing so, we save the clients a great amount of work, time and expenses

Portfolio management

Trademark portfolio management is part of a punctual strategic management of IP assets and should be very crucial to maintain IP rights. Impeccable and efficient trademark portfolio management enables a company to keep the business related to its trademark secure and profitable as long as trademarks build a company's identity.

A trademark portfolio is an incredible asset, and earning profits from an existing trademark is a holistic process in itself. The portfolio needs regular monitoring and auditing in order to keep the profits rising.

Unfortunately, when communication is lost with the agent of service and in the absence of accurate and proper records, it becomes very hard to keep track of each case and trademark file. In such circumstances, we encourage our clients to conduct ownership searches which would first identify the number of trademarks recorded at the trademark registry and their current statuses. From there, the newly entrusted agent can take the necessary actions for each trademark file based on its actual status.

Iraq: Filing of PCT applications is now possible in Iraq

The Central Organization for Standardization and Quality Control (COSQC) has circulated to Iraqi attorneys and Agents that it has started accepting PCT applications as of today; i.e., 6 November 2023

It should be noted that the Government of Iraq deposited its instrument of accession to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) with WIPO's Director General on January 31, 2022 making Iraq the 155th member of the PCT Union. The PCT was expected to enter into force on April 30, 2022, but has just been initiated.

In this regard, starting today, foreign innovators can use the PCT System to seek patent protection for their inventions in Iraq.

Saudi Arabia to Adopt the 12th Edition of the Nice Classification for Trademarks

In a remarkable step towards developing its intellectual property framework, the Saudi trademarks office (SAIP) has taken a great step by adopting the 12th edition of the Nice Classification. This update marks a jump from the outgoing 11th edition.

Some of the salient changes that came along with this adoption is that class heading can no longer be claimed whilst the selection of goods should be in exact conformity with the list of goods of the 12th Edition of the Nice Classification.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.