KHARTOUM – The Registrar General of Intellectual Property at the Sudanese Ministry of Justice issued the new trademark regulation No 1/2009 that will regulate the work process of trademark agents in the country.

As of July 1, 2009, the Power of Attorney should be submitted when filing, registering and/or renewing trademarks whether the agent is inside or outside the country. In addition, any document submitted in a language rather than English or Arabic shall be translated by an authorized translation office in Sudan.

Other items in the new regulation have been effective since April 6, 2009. These include but not limited to the following:

- All Power of Attorneys (PoA) issued outside Sudan shall be legalized at the Sudanese Consulate in the concerned country and it is not accepted to be legalized in any other embassies other than the said country. In case there is no Sudanese Embassy in the concerned country, the documents will be legalized from a Sudanese Embassy in the closest country.

- The trademark will not be registered under the company’s name, but rather under the owner/owners’ name, in case of partnership.

- Lawyers who act as trade agents are excluded from bringing a legalized PoA in case of local attorney when filing and registering a trademark provided that they bring a special legalized attorney in case of trademark licensing, opposition….etc.