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Trademark
Subject matter
The definition of a trademark as contained in Article 61 of the
Law of Commerce has been expanded to include “pictorial elements,
colour combinations, any signs perceivable by sight, audio signs,
and signs related to sense of smell”. The scope of the said law
has been considerably widened in order to grant protection to
all types of marks used to distinguish and services. Likewise
the list of marks that are not permissible to be registered in
Kuwait, (Article 62) has been reduced considerably. It may also
be noted that Kuwait has adopted the international classification
of goods and services for registration of trademarks.
Procedure, time and costs
Provisions regulating trademarks and their registration
in Kuwait are governed by the Law of Commerce No. 68 of 1980,
Articles 61 – 85 as amended by Law No. 1 of 2001.
In order to apply for registration of a trademark
in Kuwait, the following documents are required:
- A power of attorney from the trademark owner, duly executed
and legalized before a notary public, the foreign ministry,
and the Embassy of Kuwait in the country of origin.
- A copy of the certificate of registration of the trademark
in the country of origin duly legalized as mentioned above.
Please note that if the trademark has not been registered in
the country of origin and is used in such jurisdiction, then
pending a registration, a declaration should be made by the
trademark owner in the prescribed form.
- 10 copies of the trademark sought to be registered, indicating
the size, dimension and color as required.
- A statement from the trademark owner indicating the class
and the goods or services for which registration is required.
Once the documents listed
above are submitted to the Trademarks and Patents department at
the Ministry of Commerce and Industry a number is allotted to
the said application. The next step is the publication of the
mark in three consecutive issues of the official gazette. If no
objection is raised a certificate of registration is granted to
the applicant. The approximate time required to obtain a registration
certificate is six months to one year assuming there are no objections
raised.
Period of Protection and Remedies for
Infringement
The period of protection is ten years, the applicant
may renew the said registration during the last year. In cases
of infringement, if it can be shown that the infringing party
has placed, in bad faith, a mark owned by another on his products
the said party may be imprisoned for a maximum period of three
years or be liable to pay a fine not exceeding K.D 600/-.
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