Oman: adopting the GCC Trademark Law

On July 30, 2017, the Sultanate of Oman officially adopted Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Trademark Law which was promulgated by Royal Decree no. 33 of 2017 and published in the Official Gazette No. 1204.

Oman becomes the 4th GCC Member State to adopt the GCC Trademark Law, that outlines a single set of provisions which, as expected, will apply uniformly across all GCC states with respect to the registration and enforcement of trademark rights and local trademark laws in those countries.  However, the Trade Mark Office of Oman will continue to be the receiving office and will register trademarks on a national basis. Therefore, registering a trademark across the six GCC countries will still require six separate national trademark applications.

The aims of the provisions are to apply a more efficient and streamlined system in relation to trademarks. Some non-traditional types of trademarks become allowed under the GCC Trademark Law, including colour and multiple colours, sound, and smell marks. Besides, new provisions will strengthen protection of well-known marks by setting out the criteria for determining whether a mark is well-known. Also, the GCC TM Law standardizes timeframes for particular registration procedures, i.e. the opposition period will be decreased from 90 to 60 days from publication of application.

Although the Trademark Law takes effect from July 31, 2017, next day after the publication of the Decree, most provisions will be carried out into practice only when the Implementing Regulations are issued. Furthermore, new fees are likely to appear, as under the GCC TM Law, multiple class applications will be allowed. More information will be available once the Regulations are published.

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