Oman- Increase in Official Fees

This is to advise you that the official fees of some items of services in Oman have been increased as per the Ministerial Decision number 62/205 issued on June 26, 2005. The increase is around $104 for filing and $104 for renewal.

The said decision was put into effect on July 17, 2005; the date of its publication in the Official Gazette, and will be applied for new trademarks and pending applications for publication and registration.

According to Article (12) of the Omani Trademark Law number 38 of 2000 a trademark application should be published in a local newspaper after acceptance, and this is calculated according to the exact space of the notice.  Likewise, any trademark action, trademark applications, renewals, assignment, license agreement, cancellation and mortgage should be published in the official gazette upon the payment of the official fees thereof which amounts to US$ 130.

If further information is needed, please feel free to contact us.

This is to kindly inform you that the Trademark Office in Bahrain has issued new directives under reference number 6-2/05 according to which they started to apply the 8^th edition of the Nice Classification with effect from July 1, 2005 as outlined below:

1. New trademark applications in classes 42 to 45 will be accepted.

2. Trademark applications previously filed in class 42 and not yet published can be amended at the present time.

3. Trademark applications filed in class 42 and published or the publications fees thereof were paid can not be amended until they are finally registered.

4. Published and registered trademarks will be converted to the new classification as follows:

• If the services covered fall in one class other than class 42 an amendment application can be filed to alter the class number to the new class with keeping the same particulars of the respiration.

• If the services covered are " all services in class 42", the owner should specify the exact list of services, an if the specified services fall in one class other than class 42 an amendment application can be filed to alter the class number to the new class upon payment of the prescribed fees.

• In case the services covered fall in class 42 and other classes, an amendment application should be filed to delete the services falling in the other classes and keep the registration for the services in class 42.  If requested, new applications should be filed for the services in the other classes.