RIYADH - A unified Trademark Law for the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) entered into force on December 10, 2006 after it has been approved by the GCC leaders of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.
“This would be an obligatory system which would organize trademarks for registration and protect them and their ownership,” GCC Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Al-Attiyah said in a statement at the end of the 27th session of the GCC Supreme Council Summit which took place in Riyadh, December 9-10.
The Implementing Regulations of the Trademark Law will be issued in the near future by the Ministerial Board of the GCC.
According to the law, no unified filing exists. Any trademark application should be filed in each member state of the GCC in order to gain protection.