AMMAN - His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), issued on July 25, 2007, Federal Decree No. 52 approving the Unified Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Trademark Law that was enacted on December 10, 2006.
According to the UAE Ministry of Economy, the law was approved by the leaders of the six-member GCC of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Bahrain, State of Kuwait, Sultanate of Oman, State of Qatar and the UAE during the 27th session of the GCC Supreme Council Summit which took place in Riyadh, December 9-10, 2006.
Aiming at unifying economic and trading policies and systems in the GCC, the law defines the process of protecting and registering trademarks.
According to the law, unified filing does not exist; it is necessary to file individual applications in each member state of the GCC in order to gain protection.
In the same context, the Unified GCC Trademark Law was also approved in Qatar, as per Decree No. 18 of 2007, issued last month by His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Heir Apparent of Qatar, as reported The Peninsula, Qatar’s English Daily Newspaper.