With the participation of major trademark agents and Qatari officials, the Trademarks Registry (TMR) in Qatar held a meeting May 16, 2004, to discuss recent developments on trademark issues. Mr. Sami Younis, Qatar Office Manager represented Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property (AGIP).
During the meeting, Qatari Trademark Registrar, Mr. Ahmed Juffairi, announced that a new strategy would be adopted to speed up the whole trademark registration process. Mr. Juffairi sought the assistance of major agents by requesting them to second six staff members to start with a computerization process and the establishment of a database for the TMR.
In compliance with the request of the Ministry of Economy & Commerce in Qatar, AGIP seconded two staff members to be working with the TMR. Thus, AGIP Qatar Office will be responsible for one third of the entire project.
Establishing a Trademarks Registry database will begin on June 1, 2004 and is expected to be finalized within 6 months. “Once the Registry is fully computerized, we expect search results to be issued on the same day, and the registration process of trademark applications to be carried out within 6 to 12 months”, said Mr. Younis.
It is noteworthy that the TMR has been striving to expedite the processing of all pending trademark applications through speeding up examination procedures. Around 1,000 applications are being examined per month.