Trademark registration in Kuwait. Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in Western Asia. Kuwait has been classified as a “potential middle power” by the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies. Furthermore, Kuwait is a founding member of the GCC and a major non-NATO ally to the United States. Kuwait also has strong economic ties to China and ASEAN. Accordingly, many businesses want to enter this market and one of the most important preparations a business needs to take before expanding to this country is to learn the procedure of trademark registration in Kuwait.
Required documents for trademark registration in Kuwait
Required documents for trademark registration in Kuwait include:
- Application for trademark registration;
- Detailed information about the applicant;
- A list of the goods and the corresponding classes;
- 12 sample images of the trademark;
- A certified priority document (If any).
The procedure of trademark registration in Kuwait
The applicant needs to prepare the required documents for trademark registration in Kuwait and submit them to the Ministry of Commerce, Sharq area, Al Shuhada st., KIPCO tower, Trademark Control Department, Patents Office of Kuwait.
After receiving the application, the examiner will conduct a formality examination and an examination of distinctiveness, but no search for prior trademarks to check if the application is valid and there are no errors.
If there are no problems detected, the application will be published in the Official Gazette (Al-Kuwait Al-Youm) three times.
After publication, any third parties will have a 1 month period from the publication date to oppose the registration of the mark.
If there is an opposition, the applicant is required to send a counter-statement within 60 days. During the opposition period, the trademark applications will maintain the pending status until a court decision is issued in favor of either party or an amicable settlement is reached by the parties concerned.
If there is no opposition or there is opposition but the court rules in favor of the applicant, he/she will be granted an e-certificate of registration and it will be issued on the Official website of the Trademarks Office of Kuwait.
A successfully registered trademark is valid for 10 years from the date of filing. Every 10 years, the trademark owner may file for renewal of the trademark to extend the validity period for another 10 years.
If the trademark owner misses the deadline to renew the trademark, they are also provided with a 6-month grace period to file for renewal of the trademark with a late filing fee.
A trademark, which lapses, maybe re-registered in the name of a third party at any time.
Note:
- Foreign applicants do not need a domestic registration.
- It takes approximately 8-10 months from first filing to registration.
Use requirement of the trademark in Kuwait
The applicant is not required to use the trademark before registration to be able to file for trademark registration in Kuwait.
However, after registration, the trademark owner needs to use the trademark on a commercial scale for 5 consecutive years if they don’t want the trademark to be vulnerable to cancellation from third parties.
You can see a list of Kuwait IP firms here.