DAMASCUS – The Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property (AGIP) would like to notify its clients that the Syrian Trademark Office has recently construed the procedures of the implementing regulations No. 1306/2009 regarding the new Intellectual Property (IP) law as follows:
1. For trademarks under the first renewal application, their validity will be recounted retroactively (10) years from the filing date. Subsequently, such trademarks will NOT be considered as lapsed, rather one late renewal fine will be imposed. Thereby, the next renewal due date will be counted from the first filing date.
2. As for trademarks which had been already renewed (even for one renewal) and become due for renewal under the new law, they will not be subject to late renewal fine, rather they will be counted from the registration date, i.e. the next renewal due date for those trademarks will be counted from the registration date under the new IP law.
The new regulations resulted from the issuance of the new IP law No. 8/2007 regulating the trademark validity period to be as from the filing date, whereas the previous practice under the former IP law was to count the validity as from the registration date.
In view of the foregoing, AGIP kindly requests its valued clients and associates to check the filing date of the trademarks to be renewed in Syria, and provide the renewal instructions in due course with a copy of the registration certificate(s) of those trademarks being due for the first time (case 1 above), if AGIP Syria office was not the agent of the trademark under the current renewal.