A new intellectual property law was issued in Egypt on June 2, 2002, and will be effective upon the issuance of its implementing regulations, expected on July 2, 2002. The Law that came under (No. 82) is characterized by the expansion of protection so as to include items that have not been protected yet such as utility models, topographies of integrated circuits and undisclosed information.
The new Law broadens the scope of protection for famous trademarks. It stipulates that the Registrar shall not accept the filings of marks identical to famous trademarks on goods/services similar to the goods/services for which the famous trademarks are famous. Also, the filing of a mark that is identical to a famous trademark for non-similar goods/services shall be rejected upon the existence of the following conditions:
i) The use of the filed trademark on the non-similar goods/services shall suggest a connection between the owner of the famous trademark and the said goods/services.
(ii) The famous trademark is registered in Egypt as well as in a member country of the WTO.
(iii) The said use shall harm the interests of the owner of the famous trademark.
Moreover, while the former law stipulated that the assignment of a trademark should be accompanied by an assignment of the enterprise or goodwill, the new Law, by stating that a trademark may be assigned without the enterprise or goodwill, tends to avoid the various complications resulting from conflict of interests when the enterprise or goodwill is assigned.
On the other hand, according to the new Law, industrial models shall undergo a technical examination. A specialized committee is designated to review petitions from applicants whose registration applications were rejected.