Saudi Trademark Office adopts GCC Trademark Law - Legal and practical implications
Type
E-journal
Date
29 Sep 2016
Jurisdiction
Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates
Taxonomy
Trademarks
Copyright
LexisNexis
Relevant company
Clyde & Co
Legal reference
Saudi Arabia Royal Decree No. M51/2014
Analysis
The Saudi Trademark Office has confirmed that it has adopted the GCC Trademark Law and its Implementing Regulations with effect from 29 September 2016. This article considers the current status of the GCC Trademark Law and Implementing Regulations in Saudi Arabia. We then take a look at how the main ways in which the new Law and Implementing Regulations are likely to have an impact in Saudi Arabia.
The status of the GCC Trademark Law and its Implementing Regulations
The GCC Trademark Law has been a long time coming in Saudi Arabia. On 19 May 2014, the Saudi Official Gazette included an announcement that the GCC Trademark Law had been approved and that a Royal Decree had been drafted in this regard.
This was shortly followed by Saudi Arabia Royal Decree No. M51/2014 dated 27 May 2014, which provided that the GCC Trademark Law would come into force 90 days after publication. We then heard nothing further until the GCC Trademark Law (together with the Implementing Regulations to the Law) were published in the Official Gazette on 1 July 2016.