The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is actually an organization formed by 7 countries named as Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
GCC is moving towards taking great steps towards providing the improved trademark laws to the members it has. It is being carried out to make intellectual property protection matters to be handled in a more efficient way in the GCC countries.
What’s different here this time is that there would be uniform trademark laws for the companies who register at rademark in GCC countries. This will increase efficiency because they won’t be the same laws to be handled in all of the GCC countries. There would actually be different trademark laws as per the needs and the demands of the company.
To make things work in harmony, several steps have been taken for the sake of trademark laws. Currently and in the future, the companies who register their trademarks in GCC would have to go through different laws applied to each of the countries. This will make matters easier and will make things work for the companies in better ways. You, being a trademark owner would be allowed to choose to register in any of the GCC countries. So, when you register your trademark, choosing the country you want to get registered it would be solely up to you.
What can you register as a trademark in GCC countries?
Sound marks, smell marks, and even single colors can be registered as trademarks in GCC member countries.
How to register a trademark in GCC member countries?
- No certified translations need to be presented in the Arabic language.
- The companies will be allowed to carry out multiple applications at the same time. If a company wants to register its trademark in more than one classes, it would have to file multiple applications. registration costs will also decrease for the businesses being registered in more than one class.
- The company can claim priority while filing the trademark on the basis of the previous foreign application.
Similarities will be taken to account for the trademark registration in GCC member countries. Also, the class in which the trademark is being registered will play a role in deciding the trademark registration and its similarity to other trademarks. If the trademark being registered is similar to the one filed in the same class previously, it would be terminated.
Enforcing a trademark in GCC member countries
There is no doubt in the fact that the trademark registration protects the trademarks from being used by other companies or businesses.
If the company doesn’t use its trademark of or about 5 years after registering it in GCC member countries, the third parties would be allowed to present its cancellation. The company, therefore, must use its trademark and provides services and products under the trademark to its clients in order to keep it from getting cancelled.
For the companies to enforce a trademark in GCC member countries, they must know all the laws before jumping into the world of trademarks. Intellectual property law firms may also help you with getting your intellectual property patent and copyrights. So, know your intellectual rights and be a step ahead others.Click here for more information.