Saudi Arabia – Updates   Our client, Solen Cikolata Gida Sanayi Ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, a Turkish Company, filed an application on 21 December 2005 for the registration of the trademark "MAXBAR" under No. 102087, in respect of chocolate, products covered with chocolate and candy, chocolate bars, chocolates covered with caramel and biscuits, wafers, wafers covered with cream-hazelnut-chocolate, cakes, cream-cakes, biscuits, confectioneries in class (30). On 28 July 2006, the application was published in the Trademark Journal and open for opposition. The U.S. company "Mars, Incorporated" filed an opposition against our client's trademark, based on confusing similarity with "MARS". The Saudi Arabian Trade Mark Office (SATMO) found that there is no basis for the opposition and the possibility of confusing similarity does not exist and decided to reject the opposition.   Our client, Mulhens Gmbh & Co. KG has a trademark registration for "Dolly Girl" under No. 728/50 dated 19 May 2004, in respect of soap, perfume, essential oils, preparations for body care and beauty, hair lotion (lotion), dentifrices, in class (3). An application, No.99726220, for the trademark "Dolly by Dolly Chahine" in the name of Saudi Perfumes and Cosmetics Factory, filing date 3 October 2005, was published in the Trademark Journal on 19 May 2006 in respect of soap, perfume, essential oils, preparations for body and beauty care, hair lotion (lotion), dentifrices in class (3). Our client filed an opposition against the said application on the basis of confusing similarity with "Dolly Girl". After several hearings, the Bureau of Grievance found that there is high possibility of confusion between "Dolly Girl" and "Dolly by Dolly Chahine", and issued its decision to stop the registration procedures for "Dolly by Dolly Chahine". Iraq – Update This is to advise that the Iraqi Trade Mark Office has decided to issue a monthly Trade Marks Journal in order to publish the Trademarks that are accepted and overcome the backlog. It is worth mentioning that each office is allowed to publish 20 applications in each Journal every month. United Arab Emirates (UAE) This is to advise that the UAE Trade Mark Office has adopted the 9th edition of the Nice classification of goods and services as of May 2007. Accordingly, old registrations and published trademarks will remain as they are, while pending and new applications should comply with the new Edition. Yemen Yemen has joined the Paris Convention Agreement as of March 2007, and it is now possible to claim priority in respect of trademarks within 6 months, patents within 1 year and designs during 6 months. Accordingly, in order to claim priority, we will need a certified copy of priority document.   If you have any question regarding any of the above, please refer to news@qumsieh.com