Latest News: Feb 13, 2024 (Newsletter Issue 2/24)
Trademarks Office Resumed Operations
The Sudanese Trademarks Office (TMO) resumed operations on 11th February 2024, after nearly 10 months of inactivity caused by civil unrest in the country. The office has also relocated from Khartoum to Port Sudan.
The Trade Marks Office has started receiving applications for trade mark registrations, renewals, and recordals. All procedures are handled online and are paperless. The examination and publication of these applications, as well as the acceptance of supporting documents will, however, commence only after the trade marks database is re-established. This is due to the loss of trade mark records during the civil unrest in Khartoum.
Extensions of time will be granted for deadlines which fell due during the period of closure of the TMO.
Source: www.lysaght.co.uk
Oct 20, 2021 (Newsletter Issue 15/21)Official Fees IncreasedOn August 5, 2021, the Minister of Justice announced new official fees for trademarks, industrial designs and patents. The new official fees were published in the Official Gazette No. 1917 of 2021 and became effective on August 8, 2021, for all new and pending applications.
Source: JAH & Co. IP, Qatar Mar 21, 2019 (Newsletter Issue 4/19)Appeals to be Filed Before Court NowThe Sudanese Trademark Office issued a jurisdictional update that the committee of appeal attached to the Trademark Office has been dissolved and that the implementation stipulated by Article 16 (2) of the Sudanese IP Law No. 8 of 1969 will be enforced from now on.
Article 16 (2) of the Sudanese IP Law states that any refusal by the Registrar to register a mark or any condition, amendment, modification or limitation imposed by him shall be subject to appeal to the Court.
Thus, it is now mandatory to file an appeal before the Court through a lawyer for any refusal by the Registrar. The said regulations will also be applicable to international registrations filed through the Madrid System. It will be applied retroactively for any trademarks currently under appeal with the Trademark Office and not yet processed by the Dissolved Committee of Appeal. They will be summarily rejected and new appeals will have to be brought before the competent courts of that jurisdiction.
Source: JAH & Co. IP, Qatar Jun 16, 2015 (Newsletter Issue 9/15)Official Stamp Fees IncreasedThe Sudanese Trademarks Registrar has increased the official stamp fees for filing trademark application in one class in Sudan from SDG 100 to SDG 200. The increase is effective immediately for all new applications.
Source: JAH & Co. IP, Qatar Apr 15, 2015 (Newsletter Issue 6/15)
Official Fees Increased
The Sudanese IP office announced that the official fees for filing trademark applications in one class including stamp duty in Sudan has been increased to SDG 233 instead of SDG 133 as from March 1, 2015.
Source: www.agip.com
Jul 04, 2014 (Newsletter Issue 11/14)TM Filings Now Possible in South SudanThe Business Registry within the Ministry of Justice in South Sudan is now accepting and processing applications for the registration of trade marks.
In dealing with these, the South Sudan Registry has taken an executive decision to be guided by the Sudan Trade Marks Act of 1969 despite that statute’s official inapplicability to South Sudan. There is still no actual trade mark law in South Sudan or any indication of its proposed date or content. This means that the system in place has no statutory authority.
Trade mark owners may decide to proceed on the pragmatic basis that the process is being conducted by the Ministry of Justice and therefore it is likely the Government will recognise it, to the extent that:
- A certificate issued under the present procedure will be cited against a later application under the same or a subsequent system, so the first to file has the advantage.
- A formal Act, when passed, will ratify what has been done.
- The present certificates may be recognised to some extent in any litigation that may be conducted before a new law is enacted.
The resulting registration is stated to be for ten years from the filing date. It is hoped that proper law and procedures will be implemented within that term, under which the original filing date will be preserved.
For further information, please click here
Source: Spoor & Fisher, South Africa Jul 17, 2012 (Newsletter Issue 11/12)New Trademark CircularThe Registrar of Trademarks in Sudan has issued Trademark Circular No. 1 on 18 June 2012. It was adressed to all IP Agents and Trademarks Owners for the purpose of organization of work and procedures and came into effect on 8 July 2012:
1. Upon submission of the new trademark applications the Trademarks Registrar will request the applicant to complete or correct the application within one month if he finds out that the newly filed application is incomplete or incorrectly filled up; otherwise the application will be considered abandoned.
2. The applicant must pay the registration fees of a trademark and complete registration procedures and issuance of registration certificate within 2 months from the expiry of opposition term (maximum 8 months) in accordance of article no. 18 Law 1; otherwise the application will be considered abandoned.
3. It is a must to comply with the relevant provisions of article no. 19 (1) of the Sudanese Trademarks Law in the effect that application for renewal of a trademark registration should be filed within six months before expiry of registration term with a grace period of six months after expiry date for late renewal with penalty. The Registrar has allowed a six months from 8 July 2012 for renewal of trademarks that have already expired and not renewed on time, otherwise the registrations will be considered lapsed.
4. The Power of Attorney stamped by the corporate seal of the company and notarized by Notary Public will be acceptable without legalization up to the Sudanese Consulate. However, the Extract from the Commercial Register and the Certificate of Incorporation are still required to be legalized up to the Sudanese Consulate in compliance with article no. 10 (1) of the Sudanese Trademarks Law of 1969.
According to the old practice adopted at the Sudanese Trademarks Office it was permitted to file trademark applications and obtain filing number and date as well as the official filing certificate without the complete required documents which can be submitted at a later stage after filing within a period of three months; whilst the Registrar now issued internal circular to the staff of the Trademark Office to receive applications only when the notarized Power of Attorney and the legalized Certificate of Incorporation are submitted along with the application.
Source: JAH, Doha, Qatar Feb 21, 2012 (Newsletter Issue 3/12)ISO Code for South SudanThe country code "SS" has been assigned for South Sudan announced by the newsletter of the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency. To access the notice, please click here
Source: www.iso.org Jan 23, 2012 (Newsletter Issue 1/12)
TM Registration in Southern Sudan
The Ministry of Justice in Southern Sudan has issued directives to officials at the Trademark Office that they adopt certain procedures known as “Reservation of a Trademark” until issuance of a trademark law. The said procedures could be summarized as follows:
1) A written application is submitted to the Registrar indicating the trademark sought to be protected, as well as prints of the mark in question.
2) The Registrar will conduct search in the data base of the Registry to ascertain whether the mark is registered or not.
3) If the mark is not registered, it will be “reserved” in applicant’s name, and no other person will be allowed to use the said mark.
Please note that no official fees have been fixed yet for such procedure.
Source: SMAS Intellectual Property, Sudan
Nov 08, 2011 (Newsletter Issue 13/11)
Simply Signed PoA Now Accepted
The Sudanese Registrar has announced that with effect from the beginning of October 2011, a simply signed Power of Attorney is accepted instead of a legalized Power of Attorney for filing trademarks, designs, patents and renewals applications.
The deadline for filing the original documents is three months from the application date.
A legalized copy of the commercial register is, however, still required for new applications.
Source: NJQ & Associates
Sep 01, 2011 (Newsletter Issue 10/11)
IP Protection in South Sudan
The new state South of Sudan which was extracted from the main land of the Republic of Sudan has been announced on July 9th, 2011,
Since there are no IP Laws in the new state, the Sudanese Laws will be applicable until the issuance of their own law. Any registrations at the Sudan office will be valid at the new state and enforceable as well till further notice.
Source: NJQ & Associates
Legal basis is the Trademark Act of 1969, in force since September 9th, 1969.
Sudan is a member of the Madrid Agreement, the Madrid Protocol and the ARIPO.
Trademark protection is obtained by registration.
Nice classification, 9th edition
Exception: Class 33 and alcoholic goods in class 32
Registrable as trademarks are words, devices and any combination of the mentioned signs.
The following trademark types are registrable: trade marks, service marks, collective marks and certification marks.
The application is filed at the Intellectual Property Office (Trademark Department).
A separate application has to be filed for each class.
Foreign applicants need a local agent.
A notarized signed Power of Attorney stamped by the applicant’s stamp is accepted for filing trademarks, designs and renewal applications.
The deadline for filing the original documents is three months from the application date.
A legalized copy of the commercial register is still required for new applications.
Foreign applicants do not need a domestic registration.
Note: The Registrar in Sudan sometimes asks for a certified copy of the corresponding home registration of the trademark.
The application process includes a formal examination, an examination of distinctiveness and a search for prior trademarks. Signs not deemed distinctive in the examination can be registered if distinctiveness has been acquired by use.
The time frame for completing the filing of a trademark is 1 to 3 months subject to fulfilling all the documentation. The whole registration process of a trademark takes 1 to 3 years.
Prior to registration, the trademark application is published in the official gazette.
National:The opposition period is 6 months from the publication date of the application for interested persons who are resident in Sudan; 8 months from the publication date of the application for interested persons resident outside Sudan.
Details regarding the
Opposition Period against designation of IR Mark are available in our publication on this topic
here
A trademark registration is valid for 10 years from date of application. The registration is renewable for periods of 10 years.
Practical details on grace periods for trademark renewals are available in our publication
herePractical details on trademark use requirements are available in our publication
hereThe official fee for filing a trademark application is SDG 50,000 per class.
The official publication fee in the Official Gazette is SDG 10,000 and the registration fee is SDG 10,000.
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Practical details on trademark licensing are available in our publication
hereOnline you can see a limited part of information about this country.
More in-depth details are available for the following aspects:
General Trademark Regulations
Trademark Use Requirements
Grace Period for Trademark Renewal
Trademark Licensing
If you like to purchase all available information for this country, click the order button.
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Aug 16, 2021
Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property, Khartoum, Sudan