Legal advice: Protecting trademarks and brand names against forgery Thursday, 08 July 2010 01:16

Trademarks and commercial names can be described as a “ubiquitous” sign that can be found in all aspects of our life, including the economy, trade, society, sports, astronomy, and law. Most of what surrounds us is only one or another of these trademarks and commercial names.

Each trademark or commercial name represents a separate entity, which has to be different from other trademarks. People depend on these trademarks almost on a daily basis. That is why they cannot be ignored. This makes the need for a law to define these trademarks for merchants, manufacturers, and service-providers urgent.

This law includes all visual references that distinguish the products of a particular project, manufacturer, or service-provider. Service marks, however, are those marks that distinguish the services of a particular project from that of another. The brand name is the name that identifies a project owned by somebody or a legal entity.

Trademark owners have to register their trademarks at the Office for Protecting Industrial Property, an affiliate of the Ministry of Economy and Trade.

Registering a trademark gives owners the right to prevent others from using it, or using similar signs that can mislead the public.

Brand name owners also have the right to stop others from using it, or using similar signs that can mislead the public, or increase confusion over the products or services associated with it.

The law includes heavy penalties in case of forging or imitating trademarks and brand names.

Law No. 9/2002 includes a prison sentence between one and two years or a fine of up to QR20,000 or any of these two penalties for those who fabricate or imitate registered trademarks, brand names, industrial designs, and models in a way that misleads the public and creates confusion.

Those who use forged or imitated trademarks, brand names, industrial designs, and models with a malicious intent will be liable to the same penalty.

Those who sell, offer for sale, circulate, or possess with the intention of selling products bearing forged or imitated trademarks and brand names without having the legal right to do so, will get the penalty stated in Law No. 9/2002 on trademarks and brand names.