The IP Factor

According to our friends, the ag-IP-news agency, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has signed an amendment of Articles 44 and 45 of the 2007 Trademarks Law No. 8. According to the new Decree, the owner of well-known and distinctive trademarks in Syria, even those not registered, has the right to directly submit a request to the Ministry of Economy and Trade to strike off identical or similar marks and to prevent others from registering or using such marks for similar goods or services or even non-similar goods or services where the use of the mark may cause third parties to believe that there is a link between the owner of the well-known mark and such products, or where the mark could discredit the mark or cause damage to its owner.

Apparently, the Syrian Minister of Economy and Trade shall form an ad hoc committee to look into such requests within a month from the date of their submission.

When determining whether a mark is well-known, the issue is how well known the mark is to the target audience in Syria.

It is not clear how much relevance this development will have for our clientele as to register a mark in Syria, one has to declare that one does not trade with Israel.

This leads to all sorts of strange developments. In one of my less-effective networking moves, I found myself sitting next to a Syrian trademark attorney at lunch in an INTA event in London. Nothing Kosher to eat and little in the way of small talk…