Sultanate Of Oman
Law Of Trademarks & Trade Indications
Pursuant to sultani Decree No. 68/1987, the Omani legislator regulates the protection of marks and trade indications in 41 Articles. Articles 1-25 include the defining of the true nature of the trademarks, their registration procedures, appeal and objection on the disputes concerning these marks as well as their renewal and deletion. Whereas Articles from 26-30 regulate the trade designations and the articles from 31-41 regulates the penalties on those who commit one of the trademark offences as well as the competent court's decision and the appeal. Then finally come the final and the transitional provisions which are necessary for the implementation to the law as well as the officials who are responsible for implementing its provisions.
Part I
Section I - Trademarks
Article (1)
The trademark is any distinguished words, signatures, letters, numbers, drawings, symbols, titles, stamps, pictures, paintings or any other mark or a group of these used or intended to be used to distinguish goods, products or services to indicate that they belong to the owner of the mark for reasons of their manufacture, choice, trading in them or offering them for sale.
Article (2)
The following may not be a trademark and may not be registered as such:
1. Marks devoid of any distinguished feature or marks made up of statements which are only names used commonly for goods, products, familiar drawings or ordinary pictures of goods and products.
2. Any expression, drawing or mark which runs counter to morals or contravenes the law.
3. General logos, banners or other symbols of the state or of international organizations or of any of the states with which Oman has a dealing of reciprocity and also the marks which imitate them.
4. Symbols of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent or other similar symbols and also the marks which imitate them.
5. Marks conforming with or similar to the symbols bearing a sheer religious style.
6. Geographical name if their use creates a confusion in respect to the source or origin of the merchandise.
7. Name, title, picture or emblem of a third party unless he agrees on their use in advance.
8. Statements concerning the degrees of honor, the legal entitlement of which is not proved by the applicant.
9. Marks which may mislead the public or which contain erroneous statements about the source of the products or their other qualities and also the marks which contain an imaginary, imitated or forged trade name.
10. Any mark for which the state decides that its use is
Article (3)
Any person who wants to use a mark to distinguish a merchandise produced or selected by him, shall seek its registration in accordance with the provisions of this law if he is trading in it, offering it for sale or is intending to do so.
Article (4)
A person who has a trademark registered shall be considered its exclusive owner. The ownership of the mark may not be questioned if it is used by the person registering it, continuously for at least five years from the date of registration without a suit having been filed in respect to its accuracy.
Part I
Section II - Registration Procedures
Article (5)
A Register shall be prepared at the Department of Agencies and Trademarks, Ministry of Commerce and Industry to be called 'Trademarks Register'. In it shall be entered all the marks, the names and addresses of their owners, the particulars of their goods and the transfers or relinquishments made in respect to such marks. The public shall have the right to go through this register and obtain an attested copy after paying the prescribed fees, as specified in the implementing regulations.
Article (6)
The head of this department shall have the authority of registrar according to provisions hereunder.
Article (7)
The application for the registration of mark shall be submitted to the Department of Agencies and Trademarks in accordance with the terms and conditions specified in the executive regulation.
Article (8)
The mark shall only be registered for one or more categories of the products specified by the implementing regulations.
Article (9)
If two or more persons simultaneously seek the registration of the same mark or of similar or nearly similar marks for one category of products, the registrar shall suspend all the applications until the opponents submit approved condescensions in favour of one of them or a final judgement is issued in his favour by the Authority for the Settlement of Commercial Disputes.
Article (10)
The registrar may, impose whatever restrictions he deems necessary or may make amendments to determine and explain the trademark in a way that prevents its being confused with another mark, already registered or for any other reason he considers appropriate.
Article (11)
Should the registrar reject the trademark or impose restrictions or amendments on the registration, he shall convey the reasons for his decision to the applicant in writing.
Article (12)
Any decision, issued by the registrar rejecting the registration or withholding it on a particular condition may be appealed by the applicant to the Authority for the Settlement of Commercial Disputes within thirty days of the date of his notification of the decision. The Authority may support, cancel or amend the decision. If the applicant does not appeal against the decision within the specified time or does not carry out the restrictions imposed by the registrar within such a period, he shall be deemed to have abandoned his application.
Article (13)
If the registrar accepts the trademark, he shall, prior to its registration, advertise it in three consecutive issues of the Official Gazette and in a daily newspaper published in the Sultanate. All concerned parties may, within thirty days of the last announcement, submit to the registrar a written objection to the registration. The registrar shall provide the applicant with a copy of the objection. The applicant shall submit to the registrar a written reply to the objection within thirty days. If the reply does not reach within the period specified above, the applicant shall be deemed to have abandoned his application.
Article (14)
The registrar shall decide on the objection after hearing the two parties or one of them, if so required. The registrar shall issue a decision accepting the registration or reflecting it. In the first case, he shall fix the restrictions he deems necessary. All concerned parties may appeal the decision to the Authority for the Settlement of Commercial Disputes within a period of ten days from the date of their notification of it. The Authority may support, cancel or amend the decision. The registrar may, despite the objection, issue a decision, explaining, explaining reasons to continue with the registration of the trademark, if he considers that opposition to the registration is not based on any serious reasons.
Article (15)
If the mark is registered, the registration shall be in force in retroactive effect from the date of submission of application and the owner of the mark shall be given, soon after the registration is completed, a certificate containing the following statements is issued:
(a) The serial No. of the mark.
(b) Date of application and date of registration.
(c) Name of owner of the mark, his title, the place of residence and his Mnationality.
(d) An exact copy of the mark.
(e) Statement of the goods or products with the mark is concerned.
Article (16)
The owner of the mark already registered shall submit an application to the registrar to make any additions or amendments to his mark, which do not make any vital change to its features. The registrar's decision in these regard shall be issued in accordance with the conditions set for the decisions related with the original registration applications. It shall be appealable through the same methods.
Part I
Section III - Renewal & Deletion
Article (17)
The period of protection resulting from the registration of the mark shall be for ten years. The person entitled to it shall ensure the continuation of protection for another period if he submits an application for renewal during the last year under the terms and conditions provided for in Article (7). During the month following the expiry of the protection period, the registrar shall notify the owner of the mark in writing about the expiry of its period on his address entered in the register. If the three months following the date of the expiry of the protection period pass without the owner of the mark submitting the renewal application, the registrar shall delete the mark from the register on his own.
Article (18)
Not withstanding the provisions of Article (4), the registrar and other concerned parties shall have the right to seek judgement for the deletion of marks which have been be registered unlawfully. The registrar shall delete the registration if provided with a judgement to this effect from the Authority for Settlement of Commercial Disputes. The Authority may at the request of the registrar or of the concerned party rule the addition of any statement to the Registrar, the entry of which might have been missed or the omission or amendment of any statement included in the register, if it is entered unlawfully or if it is not in conformity with the reality. The registrar shall decide on the deletion of the marks, the deletion of which is provided for in the boycott regulations.
Article (19)
The Authority for Settlement of Commercial Disputes may, at the request of a concerned party, order the deletion of the registration if it is proved that the mark has not been used seriously for five consecutive years unless the owner of the mark submits the justification for not using it.
Article (20)
The deletion or renewal of the registration shall be published in the official Gazette and in a daily newspaper published in the Sultanate.
Article (21)
If the registration of the mark is deleted, it can only be re-registered for a third party for the same products after three years from the date of deletion.
Article (22)
The ownership of the mark may not be transferred, mortgaged or withheld unless it is done together with the trade or the utilized project using the mark to distinguish products.
Article (23)
The Transfer of the ownership of the trademark or the utilized project shall include the marks registered in the name of the transfer of the ownership which may be regarded as having a strong link with the trade or the utilized project unless otherwise is agreed. If the ownership of the trade or a utilized project is transterred without the mark, the transfer of the ownership may continue with the manufacture of the same products for which, or for trading in which, the mark has been registered unless otherwise is agreed.
Article (24)
The transfer of the mark or its mortgage shall not be an evidence against a third party unless indicated in the register and advertised in the Official Gazette.
Part II - Trade Indications
Article (25)
Any explanation related directly or indirectly with the following shall be considered a trade indication.
(a) Number of goods, their amounts, measurement, size, weight or capacity.
(b) The place or the country where the goods were manufactured or produced.
(c) Method of their manufacture or production.
(d) Components included in its formation.
(e) Name or description of the producer or manufacturer.
(f) Having invention patents or other industrial ownership rights or any privileges, prizes or commercial or industrial characteristics.
(g) Names or shapes by which some goods are generally known or valued.
Article (26)
The trade indications must be in conformity with the reality from all aspects, whether given on the products themselves or on the shops, stores, their titles, covers, lists, letters, advertisements or any other thing used for offering the goods to the public.
Article (27)
The name of the seller or his title may not be put on the products coming from countries other than those, where the sale takes place, unless accompanied by an exact, clearly worded statement about the country or the place where they were manufactured or produced. Persons staying at a place reputed for the production or manufacture of certain products, who are trading in similar products coming form other places, shall not put on them their marks if they are liable to mislead the public about the source of such products, even if the marks do not include the names or titles of such persons, unless arrangements have been made to prevent any confusion.
Article (28)
The manufacturer shall not use the name of the place in which he has a principal of products manufactured for him at another place, unless such a name is accompanied by a mention of the latter place in a manner that prevents all confusion.
Article (29)
Mention shall not be made of prizes, medals, diplomas or honorary degrees of any kind except in respect to the products on which these characteristics are applicable, in respect to the persons and commercial titles to whom their rights are granted or reverted, provided this includes an accurate statement of their date and kind and of the exhibitions or competitions in which they were granted. A person who offers his products in partnership with others may not use for his own products the characteristics granted to joint exhibits unless he specifies the source and kind of these characteristics in a clear cut manner.
Article (30)
If the amount of the products, their measurements, size, capacity, weight, source and components included in their formation are among the factors taken due account in of the assessment of their value, a decision from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry shall prohibit the import of such products, their sale or their offering for sale, unless they bear or make such statements. A decision from the Minister or Commerce and Industry shall specify how to put the statements on the products and the substitute procedures if it is not possible to do so. These statements must be in Arabic.
Part III - Penalties
Article (31)
The following persons shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years and shall be liable to a fine not exceeding 500 Omani Riyals or one of the two penalties.
(a) A person who forges a mark, registered in accordance with the law or imitates it in a way designed to mislead the public and a person who used a forged or imitated mark with an ill intention.
(b) A person who knowingly sells, offers for sale or circulation or possesses with the intention of selling products bearing a forged, imitated or unlawfully prepared mark.
(c) A person who, with an ill intention, violates the provisions concerned with the trade indication, a judgement may be issued for the closure of the shop in which the violation takes place for a period not exceeding three months. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry may order the administrative closure pending the settlement of the case.
Article (32)
The owner of the mark, at any time, even if it is prior to the filing of a trade or penal case, shall on the basis of an application accompanied by an official certificate implies the registration of a mark, seek the issuance of an order from the chairman of the Authority for Settlement of Commercial Disputes for taking the necessary preventative measures particularly the distraint of machinery or any instruments which are or might be given used to commit crime as also the products, goods, titles of the shops, covers, papers and other things on which the mark or indication subject of the crime, might have been placed. Such a distraint may be effected at the time of the import of the goods from abroad. The order, issued by the chairman of the Authority may include the assigning of one or more experts to assist the distrainer in his job and making it incumbent upon the applicant to submit a bond.
Article (33)
The distraint measures provided for in the previous Article shall be the considered null and void if not followed, within eight days from the imposition of the distraint, by the filing of a compensation case or the notification of the concerned penal prosecution officer about the person against whom these measures have been taken.
Article (34)
The concerned court shall, in any trade or penal case, decree the confiscation of the distrained articles or the articles to be distrained later to deduct their value from the compensations or fines, or to dispose them by any other means the court may deem appropriate. The court may also order the destruction of illegal marks and may, if needed, order the destruction of the products, covers, packing equipment, titles of the shops, catalogues and other items bearing these marks or bearing illegal data and also the destruction of the machinery and the equipment used specially for the purpose of forgery. It may order all the aforementioned measures even in the case of an acquittal sentence.
The court may order the publication of the judgement in the Official Gazette at the expense of the judgement debtor.
Part IV - Final & Transitional Provisions
Article (35)
Natural or juristic persons, whether having an industrial or commercial status or not, who are in charge of monitoring or examining specified products in respect to their source, the components of their formation, the method of their manufacture, their features, reality or any other characteristics of theirs, shall be authorized to register a specified mark in order to provide evidence for carrying our monitoring or examination if the Minister of Commerce and Industry considers that such authorization is in the interest of the general public. The registration of such mark shall lead to all the repercussions provided for in this law. However, its ownership may only be transferred by a special authorization from the Minister of Commerce and Industry.
Article (36)
The executive regulation of this law shall contain the provisions guaranteeing the provisional protection for the marks placed on products or goods displayed at natural or international exhibitions staged in Oman or in a country with which Oman has dealings of reciprocity. Such exhibitions shall be specified in a decision issued by the Minister of Commerce and Industry.
Article (37)
The marks which are in use at the beginning of the enforcement of this law shall have to be registered within two years as from this date and shall be considered to have been registered as from the date of the, beginning of the enforcement of this law according to Article 4. However, the period of ten years mentioned in Article 17 shall only start from the date of submitting the registration application.
Article (38)
The provisions of multilateral and unilateral international treaties and agreements, to which Oman is, or may subsequently become, a party and which regulate the rights of the nationals of the countries which are parties to such treaties and agreements or of persons treated as such in respect to trademark and trade indications, shall be considered to be in force and be applicable by virtue of this law.
Article (39)
The foreigners shall have the rights similar to those guaranteed by this law for the nationals of the Sultanate of Oman, provided they are nationals of the countries which have reciprocity with the Sultanate of Oman.
Article (40)
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry shall issue the implementing regulations for the provisions of this law, explaining detailed provisions, particularly the following:
(1) Regulating of the controlling of the registration of marks and maintaining of registers and files related therewith.
(2) Terms, conditions and the dates related with the registration formalities.
(3) Classification of all the products, for the purpose of registration, into categories on the basis of their kind and nature.
(4) Fees for the delivery of copies and certificates and the different actions and approvals provided for in this law, provided they do not exceed 25 Omani Riyals for each of the formalities for the implementation of this law.
Article (41)
Employees, appointed by a decision of the Minister of Commerce and Industry, shall have the right to make inspections and observations in implementation of the provisions of this law. They shall take the inceasures specified for them in the executive regulation.
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.
Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property Bulletins
For further information you make also like to view the Intellectual Property Bulletins published monthly by The Abu-Ghazaleh Group.
