Trademark

Trademark

1. Types of TM

   • word mark: Words, letters, or numbers can be used as word marks. A word mark simply grants the owner a right to the word, letter, or number; no right to the mark's appearance is sought.
   • service marks: Service marks do not represent goods, but rather the services they offer. - The marks are usually used in a service business where no actual goods are traded under the mark. Thus, companies offering services such as restaurants and hotels, transportation, beauty and health care, advertising, publishing, education, and the like can protect their names and marks against misuse.
   • Well-known marks: Marks that are easily recognized by a large proportion of the population are considered well-known marks. Well-known marks enjoy more excellent protection, and persons cannot register or use trademark imitations of well-known marks.
   • Sound mark: Sounds can be registered as sound marks. Sounds can be perceived by hearing and distinguished by their distinctive sound.
   • Shape mark: Shape marks can be registered when the shape of items or packaging has a distinguishing feature.
   • TM for a color: A trademark for a color can be registered if it has become a distinctive feature identifying the goods of a particular trader.

2. • An individual can use a trademark to represent any of their brand names, words, signatures, letters, symbols, numbers, titles, or seals, as well as designs, graphics, pictures, or any other sign or set of signs if they are used or intended to be used to distinguish a company's products or services. • Companies use trademarks to determine the identity of their goods and services and to distinguish them from those of their competitors. •When businesses use exclusive names, logos, and other branding elements to differentiate themselves from their competitors, they can become more recognizable and more attractive to consumers, because this will prevent other businesses from using these elements if they have been protected by trademarks.

3. Symbol of TM

   • An ® symbol indicates registered ownership of a trademark .It is used to alert the public to the registered ownership of a trademark or service mark. Only registered trademarks or service marks may use the ® symbol; the symbol can be used once registration has been granted.
   • TM symbol (often a superscript like this: TM) is used with an unregistered mark -- a term, slogan, logo, or another indicator -- to notify potential infringers that the mark has common law rights.
   • As the name suggests, the "SM" represents the service mark . A service mark refers to a product that is not tangible but rather one that is used in connection with a service.

4. Prohibited mark

   • • In accordance with the Saudi Trademark Law, it is not permitted to register trademarks of brands that deal in goods and services that are forbidden by Islamic law. • Foreign companies that wants to register their trademark that deal in the business of gambling, nightclubs, pornography, etc., are prohibited from registering in the KSA. • There are certain categories of marks that are prohibited from registration under Kingdom trademark law, such as those that are "violating public morality or public order" or that are "identical to religious symbols”. • Therefore, it is common to refuse marks containing banned substances (such as pork or alcoholic beverages) or words with a sexual connotation and any non-Islamic religious symbols, such as the Christian cross, are rejected as well. • Trademarks cannot be registered with goods and services that are forbidden by Shari’a • In the Kingdom, pork products and alcoholic beverages are prohibited, the same goes for nightclubs, and casinos.

5. TM applicants

   • A - Natural or legal persons with Saudi nationality. B- Persons normally residing in the Kingdom and authorized to engage in a commercial or craft business. C - Persons belonging to a country that treats the Kingdom reciprocally. D- Persons belonging to a country that is a member of a multilateral international agreement to which the Kingdom is a party or residing in that country. E - Public interests.

6. features of TM

   • • It identifies the product. • It advertises the product. The trademark represents the product. • It creates an image of the product in the minds of the public particularly the consumers or the prospective consumers of such goods. • A trademark provides the trademark owner with the legal right to use the trademark throughout the country. • A trademark registration gives the owner exclusive right to use the mark in respect of the products or services covered by the trademark. • A trademark is an intangible asset and it can be pledged as a security in order to obtain loan facilities. • A trademark, upon registering, can be sold, licensed or assigned and can also be transferred. • It can be used as a way to prevent unfair competition by protecting the use of a symbol, word, logo, slogan, design, domain name, etc. that uniquely distinguishes the goods.

7. TM requirements

   • It must be in use in commerce, and it must be distinctive. The application for registration shall include the following data: • A reproduction of the trademark sought to be registered, affixed to the application for registration in the space designated for that purpose. • Applicant's name, surname, address, nationality, and trade name, if any. If the applicant is a corporate person, its name, head office address, and nationality shall be stated. • If the application is filed by an agent, the agent's name, surname, and address shall be stated. • Description of the trademark sought to be registered. • Goods or services in respect of which registration of the trademark is sought, and classes thereof. • Signature of the applicant or his agent. If the applicant is a corporate person, the application must be signed by a person authorized to sign on behalf of such corporate person. Article 3: The application for registration shall be accompanied with: • Ten reproductions of the t

8. Effect of Registering a Trademark

   • • Article 20: The registration of a trademark shall have its effect from the date of submitting the application for registration, and this date shall be established in accordance with what is specified in the implementation regulations. • Article 21: The person who registered the trademark is considered the owner of it alone, and the use of a registered trademark by any person is conditional on the approval of its owner. The owner of a registered trademark has the right to file a lawsuit to prevent others from using it or using any other sign similar to it that would mislead the public regarding the products or services for which the trademark was registered, as well as with regard to similar products or services. An equitable use of descriptive signs, expressions, and drawings devoid of the distinctive character of the registered mark is excluded from the rights arising from the registration of the mark. • Article 22: The rights of the owner arising from the registration of the tra

9. Renewal of TM

   • When does the owner need to register for the renewal? Article 23 of the Saudi law on trademarks states that: The renewal of registration of the owner’s trademark should be filed during the LAST YEAR of its period of protection and for a subsequent period of six months. In the same office and in every country. Is it important to make any new examination? No, there is no need for any new examination to renew the trademark, and it’ll be publicized. This was also stated in article 24 of the Saudi law on trademarks. Could the force of law cancel a trademark registration? Yes, it could be cancelled by force of law in the two following cases: 1. Trademarks whose registration were not renewed in accordance with this Law and its Implementing Regulations. 2. Trademarks owned by natural or juristic persons with whom dealing is prohibited pursuant to a decision issued by the competent authority. This was stated in article 26. What happens if it got cancelled? If a trademark is cancelled, it

10. Fee of TM

    • The fees shall be determined as follows: Article 41 First: (One thousand riyals) for any of the following procedures: - Application to register a trademark for one class. - Application to register a jointly-owned trademark for one class. - Request to examine a jointly-owned trademark for one class. - Request to enter the transfer or assignment of ownership for one trademark with respect to one class. - Request for a license to use a trademark for one class, - For every modification or addition in a trademark for one class, - Request to add or change any information for which no fee is specified, in - connection with one trademark for one class. - Renewal of registration of a trademark for one class. - Renewal of registration of a jointly-owned trademark for one class. Second: (Three thousand riyals) for any of the following procedures: - Application for a temporary protection of a trademark for one class. - Registration of a trademark for one class. - Registration of a jointl

11. crimes and punishments

    • Article 43: Without prejudice to any harsher punishment, the following shall be punished with imprisonment for perio not exceeding one year and a fine not less than fifty thousand riyals and not exceeding one million riyals or with one of these punishments: • Anyone who forges a registered trademark or imitates it in a way that misleads the public, and anyone who uses in bad faith a forged or an imitated trademark. • Anyone who puts or uses, in bad faith, a trademark owned by another on his products or services. • Anyone who offers, puts up for sale, or sells or possesses with intention of selling products carrying a forged, an imitated, or unlawfully put or used trademark, despite his knowledge thereof as well as anyone who offers to render services under such a trademark despite his knowledge thereof. Article 44: Without prejudice to any harsher punishment, the following shall be punished with imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months and a fine not less than twenty tho