Summary
Oman is a member of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. The International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks under the Nice Agreement is followed in Oman. A separate application should be filed with respect to each class of goods or services.
Once a trademark or a service mark application is filed, the mark is examined as to its registrability. The Registrar may object in writing to certain aspects of the mark in the course of examination, such as the scope of goods or services, or he may ask for the modification of the mark. Trademark or service mark applications accepted for registration by the Registrar are published in the Official Gazette and once in a local daily newspaper. It is necessary to specify the list of goods/services at the time of filing for a registration of a trademark to avoid any opposition that might take place; the same also applies when renewing a trademark.
Publication is an invitation to any interested party to oppose the registration of trademarks or service marks conflicting with its interests. An opposition to the registration of a trademark or service mark should be made within the term of the opposition period, i.e. 90 days as from the date of publication in the Official Gazette.
The duration of a trademark or service mark registration is for 10 years from the filing date renewable for similar periods of 10 years each. According to the provisions of the law, a grace period of 6 months is allowed for filing a renewal application with a lateness fine. Renewal application(s) will be published in the Official Gazette.
The assignment of a trademark or service mark can be recorded once the mark is registered in the country. In fact, unless an assignment has been entered against a trademark or service mark in the register and published in the Official Gazette, it shall not be effective vis-à-vis third parties. The registrant of a trademark or service mark is also obliged to record any change in his name and/or address with the Trademark Registry.
Use of trademarks is not compulsory in Oman for filing applications or for maintaining registrations in force. However, a trademark registration becomes vulnerable to cancellation by any interested party who can establish the fact that the trademark was not actually used for a period of 3 years in succession, unless the owner of the mark presents a reasonable excuse to justify his non-use of the mark. A trademark registration will be incontestable, if it gains uninterrupted use for 3 years as of the registration date without any successful legal action against it during that period.
Unauthorized use of a trademark registered under the law, an imitation of such trademark applied on goods or in relation with services of the same class, sale, storing for the purpose of sale, or exhibiting for sale of goods bearing a counterfeit mark, or using a mark duly registered under the law by another person to serve the purpose of unauthorized promotion of goods or services of the same class are offenses punishable under the law.