Trade Mark Protection In Bahrain

Bahrain is one of only a handful of countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in which it is possible to file a trade mark either directly at a national level or internationally through WIPO via the Madrid Protocol.

The Madrid Protocol provides a means for a simplified and streamlined procedure for filing trade mark applications and can result in significant cost savings.

National filings

Trade mark registrations are obtained through the Trade Mark Office at the Industrial Property Office, which forms part of the Ministry of Trade and Industry. In existence since 1955, the Bahraini Industrial Property Office is one of the oldest intellectual property authorities in the Arabian Gulf region.

Bahrain operates a single class filing system and uses the 10th Edition of the Nice Classification Guide.

An apostilled and legalised Power of Attorney may be submitted within three months of filing an application, together with a legalised certificate of incorporation or trade licence.

Applications are examined on absolute grounds (ie is the mark inherently registrable?) and on relative grounds (ie does the mark conflict with any earlier rights?)

Applications which are accepted by the Registrar are published in the Official Gazette for opposition purposes for a period of 60 days. During this time, any interested party may file an opposition. If no opposition is filed, then the application will proceed to registration and a registration certificate will be issued.

The registration term in Bahrain is 10 years from the date of filing and is renewable indefinitely for further 10 year periods.

The assignment of a trade mark may only be recorded once the trade mark has become registered. The same applies for the recordal of registered user agreements. Such recordals are published in the Official Gazette.

Trade mark registrations in Bahrain become vulnerable to non-use cancellation (by any interested party) if, for a continuous period of five years, there has been no use of the mark in Bahrain.

Madrid Protocol filings

Bahrain acceded to the Madrid Protocol on 15 December 2005.

Once the Bahrain Trade Mark Office has been notified by WIPO of a Bahrain designation within an International Registration, the application is examined subject to the same laws and procedures as a national application. Following this, if the application has been accepted, then it will be published for opposition for the same period (ie 60 days) as a national application...

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