Article 8 of the draft Law on Trademarks provides:
"An application for registration of a trademark shall be filed with the competent Directorate by the concerned person, or his representative, using the prescribed form and in accordance with the provisions set forth in this Law and pursuant to the terms, conditions and procedure prescribed in the Implementing Regulation."
A draft of the Implementing Regulation is currently under preparation.
Article 11 provides that:
"If two persons or more file an application for the registration of the same trademark or similar or closely similar trademarks for a single class of goods or services, processing the applications for registration shall be suspended until one of the applicants submits a document signed by the other parties to the dispute, and attested by the competent authority, relinquishing their claims in its favour or until the handing down of a final judgement in favour of one of them."
Article 12 of the draft Law provides that the competent Directorate may reject the application or prescribe conditions or restrictions on the registration. The competent Directorate is required to notify the applicant of its decision by registered mail and the applicant may challenge the decision.
Article 12 further requires the competent Directorate to decide upon the application within 30 days failing which the application is considered rejected.
Article 13(a) provides that once the application is accepted, the competent Directorate shall publish it in the manner prescribed in the Implementing Regulation.
Following the publication of a trademark, Article 13(b) provides that any concerned person may petition the competent Directorate to challenge the registration of the trademark stating his reasons for the challenge. The petition must be submitted within 60 days after the publication of the trademark. The competent Directorate is required to notify the petition to the applicant within 30 days and the applicant is required to respond in writing within 30 days otherwise he will be considered as to have withdrawn his application.
Article 13(c) provides that before deciding upon the challenge, the competent Directorate is required to hear the parties if requested to do so by any of them. Article 13(c) further provides that the competent Directorate shall decide upon the petition within 60 days from receipt of the reply to the challenge.
Article 13(d) provides that the competent Directorate shall issue a decision on accepting the registration within 60 days from publishing the Trademark where no challenge is made, otherwise within 15 days from deciding upon the challenge. A decision to accept the registration may be subject to certain conditions or limitations. Where a decision is made to accept the registration, the trademark shall be entered in the register.
Article 14 provides that a certificate of registration shall be issued to the owner of the trademark once a trademark is registered.
Article 41 provides that any concerned person may appeal to the Minister against any decision of the competent Directorate within 30 days of that person's knowledge of that decision. The Minister is required to decide upon the appeal within 30 days and the person who lodged the appeal is required to be notified of the decision within 30 days thereafter. Where a period of 60 days has elapsed without the person who submitted the appeal being informed of a decision, his appeal shall be considered rejected. Thereafter, a challenge to the decision shall lie with the court within 60 days after the decision is made or considered rejected as the case may be.
As to the rights that the owner of a registered trademark can exercise, Article 15 of the draft Law provides that the trademark owner has an exclusive right to prevent all third parties not having the owner's consent from using identical or similar signs for goods or services which are identical or similar to those in respect of which the trademark is registered where such use would result in a likelihood of confusion. In case of the use of an identical sign for identical goods or services, a likelihood of confusion shall be presumed.
By virtue of Articles 34 to 38 of the draft Law, provisional measures, border measures and criminal sanctions are available only to Registered Trademarks.
