Oman Trademark Service Charges

Requirements

Filing Requirements

Trademark/Service Mark Applications

  1. A Power of Attorney duly legalized up to the Consulate of Oman.
  2. A certified copy of the certificate of incorporation of the applicant company, an extract of its entry in the commercial register or a good standing certificate including all relevant information.
  3. Fifteen Prints of the trademark.
  4. A list of the goods and services to be covered by the application.
  5. If priority is claimed, a certified copy of the priority document should be submitted to the Trademark Office in Oman within three months as of the filing date of the application.

Collective Mark Applications

  1. A Power of Attorney duly legalized up to the Consulate of Oman.
  2. A certified copy of the certificate of incorporation of the applicant company, an extract of its entry in the commercial register or a good standing certificate including all relevant information.
  1. The prints of all marks should be on one sheet.
  2. A certified copy of the priority document must be submitted, in case it is claimed within three months as of the filing date of the application.

Quality Control Mark Applications

  1. A Power of Attorney duly legalized up to the Consulate of Oman.
  2. Prints of the trademark.
  3. A certified copy of the priority document must be submitted, in case it is claimed within three months as of the filing date of the application.
  4. Two official copies of the institution or association statute, which is requesting for registration, mentioning the introduced amendments.
  5. Two copies of the system followed by the applicant to control or inspect products mentioning the conditions required to be available and how to use  the trademark on it.

Renewal of Trademark/Service Mark Registrations

  1. A Power of Attorney duly legalized up to the Consulate of Oman, if we do not previously possess one.
  2. The trademark number and class.
  3. The list of goods and services at the time of renewing of a trademark.

Assignment Applications

  1. A Power of Attorney notarized and legalized up to the Consulate of Oman by the assignee.
  2. A legalized deed of assignment executed by the assignor and the assignee.
  3. A certified copy of the certificate of incorporation of the assignee company, an extract of its entry in the commercial register or a good standing certificate including all relevant information.

Merger Applications/License Applications

  1. A Power of Attorney legalized up to the Consulate of Oman.
  2. A legalized certificate of merger or license agreement. The license agreement should indicate the trademark registration number in Oman.
  3. A certified copy of the certificate of incorporation of the licensee company, an extract of its entry in the commercial register or a good standing certificate including all relevant information.

Change of Name Applications

  1. A legalized Power of Attorney showing the new name and address.
  2. A certified copy of the certificate of change of name.

Change of Address Applications

A certified copy of the certificate of change of address.

Agency Agreements

  1. A Power of Attorney legalized up to the Consulate of Oman.
  2. An Agency Agreement/Contract executed by the Principal and the Agent, legalized up to the Consulate of Oman.
  3. A statement as to how the agent will carry out his obligations.
  4. A copy of the permit of establishing a foreign professional company.
  5. A declaration from the individual merchant that there have been no conviction judgments against him that tarnish honor and good repute or bankruptcy, unless he retrieved his esteem.
  1. Any document or documents required in the implementation of any other law.

Summary

Oman is a member of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. The International Classification of Goods and Services for the  Purposes of the Registration of Marks under the Nice Agreement is followed in Oman. A separate application should be filed with respect to each class of goods or services.

Once a trademark or a service mark application is filed, the mark is examined as to its registrability. The Registrar may object in writing to certain  aspects of the mark in the course of examination, such as the scope of goods or services, or he may ask for the modification of the mark. Trademark or service mark applications accepted for registration by the Registrar are published in the Official Gazette and once in a local daily newspaper. It is necessary to specify the list of goods/services at the time of filing for a registration of a trademark to avoid any opposition that might take place; the  same also applies when renewing a trademark.

Publication is an invitation to any interested party to oppose the registration of trademarks or service marks conflicting with its interests. An opposition  to the registration of a trademark or service mark should be made within the term of the opposition period, i.e. 90 days as from the date of publication

in the Official Gazette.

The duration of a trademark or service mark registration is for 10 years from the filing date renewable for similar periods of 10 years each. According  to the provisions of the law, a grace period of 6 months is allowed for filing a renewal application with a lateness fine. Renewal application(s) will be

published in the Official Gazette.

The assignment of a trademark or service mark can be recorded once the mark is registered in the country. In fact, unless an assignment has been entered against a trademark or service mark in the register and published in the Official Gazette, it shall not be effective vis-à-vis third parties. The registrant of a trademark or service mark is also obliged to record any change in his name and/or address with the Trademark Registry.

Use of trademarks is not compulsory in Oman for filing applications or for maintaining registrations in force. However, a trademark registration

becomes vulnerable to cancellation by any interested party who can establish the fact that the trademark was not actually used for a period of 3 years  in succession, unless the owner of the mark presents a reasonable excuse to justify his non-use of the mark. A trademark registration will be incontestable, if it gains uninterrupted use for 3 years as of the registration date without any successful legal action against it during that period.

Unauthorized use of a trademark registered under the law, an imitation of such trademark applied on goods or in relation with services of the same class, sale, storing for the purpose of sale, or exhibiting for sale of goods bearing a counterfeit mark, or using a mark duly registered under the law by another person to serve the purpose of unauthorized promotion of goods or services of the same class are offenses punishable under the law.

T1: How long will it take to conduct a trademark search?

Approx. 4-5 working days to conduct a search.

T2: Does your country use the international classification?

Yes.

T3: Are there any goods or services for which the mark can not be registered?

No; marks can be registered in Oman for all goods and services under classes 1 to 45 of the Nice Classification without any exclusion.

T4: Does the specification of goods in any class limit the protection to the specified goods, or does it give additional protection to all the goods in the class?

As per the new regulation implemented by the Omani trademark office in association with the Madrid protocol; the list of goods or/ and services of all

applications should be in detailed and specific.

T5: Can a trademark be registered in the name of more than one applicant ( i.e. joint application) ? If so, what are its requirements?

No.

T6: Can an application be filed without its complete documents? If yes, what is the deadline for filing the documents?

POA shall be submitted within 2 months as from the filing date and the remain documents shall be submitted within 3 months.

T7: Can one application cover more than one class of goods/services?

No. Separate application should be filed for each Class of goods/services.

T8: May priority be claimed under the Paris Convention?

Yes.

T9: What is the term of protection of a trademark? From what date is it calculated?

Term of protection of a trademark is Ten years from the date of filing the application.

T10: Is marking compulsory and, if so, how should marking be made?

No.

T11: In case a trademark is not renewed in due time, and another company register the same trademark, can the original owner oppose the registration or not?

As per the Trademark Law, if a trademark registration is not renewed by the owner, the same mark will be allotted to another party only after a gap

of three years.

T12: If the trademark was filed incorrectly originally, what documentation would be required to amend the official register to show the correct details?

No documents are required for amending the trademark until its registration.

T15: What are the types of use required?

Sale or offering for sale, or should be dealt with in some manner in Oman.

T14: Is use of the trademark on one item sufficient to maintain the protection for all the goods covered by the registration?

Yes.

T13: Is use required before registration or for maintaining the registration in force?

No. However, the mark will be vulnerable to cancellation if it is not effectively used for three years from the date of registration.

T16: Can the assignment of an application be recorded?

Yes.

T20: Can the trademark application be opposed and what is the opposition period?

A trademark application can be opposed within 90 days as from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette

T19: Can an assignment be made with or without the goodwill? What monetary consideration is to be mentioned as the value of the assignment? Is there any tax based on the value mentioned?

It is possible to record an assignment with or without goodwill. A nominal amount (of say US$ 1.00) can be mentioned as the consideration. There is

no tax based on the value mentioned.

T18: Can recordals such as change of name, address, merger, assignment, license, etc., be made against pending applications?

No. Applicant’s name, address, etc., can be amended in case of pending applications by submitting the appropriate documents.

T17: Is recording a license agreement compulsory? What are the consequences of non-recordal?

Recording a license agreement is not compulsory, but highly recommended, as otherwise it will not have any legal effect vis-à-vis third parties.