All you need to know for a trademark Registration-filing in Saudi Arabia

A smooth trademark registration generally passes through three phases:

Filing – which you file the trademark at the TM department.

Publication – if the mark is accepted and not rejected, then it will be published for 60 days (opposition period).

Registration – after the opposition/publication period ends, you can pay the final registration fees and receive your trademark certificate.

After filing a trademark at the trademark office, and settling official fees relating to filing the trademark examiners at the Saudi IP Authority (SAIP) in Saudi Arabia to examine trademark applications, the examination process takes place on two levels:

Formal examinations of trademarks in Saudi Arabia – are examinations which take into account regulatory, formal or documentary aspects of the trademark filing requirements. In other words, an examiner will look at, whether all the required documents for filing have been submitted, whether these documents have been properly authenticated (legalized or locally legalized), whether the fees have been settled, whether the applicant is entitled to register a trademark locally, whether the classes designated are available locally, and whether priority documents are included or not.

Substantive examinations of trademarks in Saudi Arabia – are conducted by examiners at the trademark office within Saudi IP Authority (SAIP).

The examination criteria are both on absolute grounds, and relative grounds:

Absolute grounds for trademark refusals in Saudi Arabia are: 

• Trademarks which are devoid of any distinctive character.
• Trademarks which exclusively consist of signs regularly used in trade, to refer to a type, kind, quality, quantity, intended purpose, value, geographical origin, or other characteristics relating to the goods or service the trademark is registered on.
• Trademarks which exclusively consist of signs or indications that are used in the normal course of the trade.
• Trademarks which are contrary to public policy.
• Trademarks which are contrary to public morals and ethics.
• Trademarks which deceive the public, as to the nature, quality, or source of the goods or services.
• Trademarks which include public emblems, flags, and other symbols relating to the state, Arab, or international organizations, or one of their institutions, or a foreign state unless so authorized by it, as well as any imitation of such emblems, flags or symbols.
• Trademarks which include symbols of the Red Crescent or Red Cross and other similar imitating symbols.
• Trademarks which are similar to or resemble symbols of a purely religious character.
• Trademarks which are geographical names and whose protection or use create confusion as to the origin or source of the goods, the products, or the services.
• Trademarks which are essentially the name, surname, picture, or emblem of a third party unless prior approval is provided.
• Trademarks which are indications of honorary distinctions to which the applicant for registration cannot prove.

Relative grounds for trademark refusals - assess whether a trademark application filed in Saudi Arabia may cause confusion due to the similarity with a previously registered or famous trademark locally.

The Saudi IP authority implements strict deadlines when processing trademark applications. An application when submitted should have all the relevant information and documents required,, so there is no deadline for the submission of documents. There are however strict deadlines for settling fees relating to: 

• Publishing a trademark in Saudi Arabia after a notice of allowance is issued - 30 days non-extendable. 
• Settling trademark registration fees in Saudi Arabia once the trademark completes the publication - 30 days non-extendable. 
• Responding to a trademark rejection decision in Saudi Arabia 60 days non-extendable 
• Opposing a published mark 60 days non-extendable.
• A trademark is protected for 10 HIJRI years, which is equivalent to around 9.5 Gregorian years.