News & insights

MENA: Live Updates of IP Offices in Wake of COVID-19 Pandemic

April 2, 2020

This is a follow up to our previous circular related to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. We are pleased to confirm that our Head Office and all our regional offices remain fully operational and we are able to work remotely and maintain the world-class service that you have grown accustomed to receiving.

As COVID-19 continues to spread, a number of IP Offices in our region have curtailed their services or have shut down. To date, some are operating online or remotely, and others are expected to halt their operations completely.

This article is being updated regularly. All new information is below.

Country	Working hours	Deadlines	Submission of Original Documents & POAs	Last Updated
Algeria	Limited working hours from March 22, 2020 until April 10, 2020	A grace period of one month will be granted once business is back to usual	PTO is operating/simply signed POAs are usually accepted	March 27
Bahrain	PTO is still operating	No extension announced yet	All documents are submitted online	March 26
Cyprus	PTO is still operating but with restrictions (no contact with the officers)	If by any reason a deadline cannot be met, then a written application requesting an extension of time has to be filed	A scanned copy of the documents and a simply signed POA are usually accepted.	March 27
Djibouti	All operations suspended until April 1, 2020	All deadlines falling between March 20 and March 31 are automatically extended to April 1	Usual procedure – original documents should be available at the time of filing .A simply signed POA is usually required	March 30
Ethiopia	All operations suspended until further notice	All deadlines falling between March 20, 2020 and April 19, 2020 have been extended to April 20, 2020	TMO will be flexible in accepting the soft copies of the same and later originals to follow	March 30
Egypt	All operations suspended until April 8, 2020	All deadlines falling between March 25 and April 7 are automatically extended to April 8	The TM and PT offices are accepting scanned documents and simply signed copies of POAs along with an email from the client or/attorney proving The difficulty of legalizing the required POAs. (Original documents should be submitted whenever possible)	March 25
Gaza	All operations suspended until April 5, 2020	All deadlines falling between March 22 and April 4 are automatically extended to April 5	Extension of time is acceptable due to the current situation. Simply signed POAs are usually acceptable	March 22
Iraq	All operations suspended until April 11, 2020	All deadlines automatically extended to April 11	All documents should be submitted once the PTO re-opens	March 30
Kurdish Region of Iraq	All operations suspended until April 5, 2020	All deadlines automatically extended to April 5	All documents should be submitted once the PTO re-opens	March 18
Jordan	All operations suspended until April 14, 2020	All deadlines falling between March 18 and April 13 are automatically extended to April 14	All documents should be submitted once the PTO re-opens	March 30
Kuwait	All operations suspended until April 12, 2020	All deadlines falling between March 12, 2020 and April 11 are automatically extended to April 12	All documents should be submitted once the PTO re-opens	March 21
Lebanon	All operations suspended until April 14, 2020	All deadlines falling between March 11 and April 13 are automatically extended to April 14	All documents should be submitted once the PTO re-opens	March 29
Libya	All operations suspended until April 6, 2020	All deadlines falling between March 22 and April 5 are automatically extended to April 6	All documents should be submitted once the PTO re-opens	March 22
Morocco	TMO will continue to accept trademark applications online Requests for recordals are suspended until further notice	All deadlines are suspended until further notice	Simply signed POAs are usually used. Recordal assignment and merger will be filed later on, because the related documents should be submitted at the PTO	March 31
Oman	All operations suspended until further notice	All deadlines except for priority claims are suspended until further notice	All documents should be submitted once the PTO re-opens	April 1
Qatar	PTO is still operating	All deadlines are suspended until further notice	The documents should be submitted within 2-6 months depending on the case	March 26
Saudi Arabia	PTO will continue to accept applications online but original documents cannot be submitted at this time	PTO announced it will allow extensions of time	The PTO has granted a 3 months grace period to submit any document. Filing can be can done with colored scanned copy	March 30
Sudan	All operations suspended until April 1, 2020, except for the submission of new trademark applications	All deadlines falling between March 18 and March 31 are automatically extended to April 1	Usual procedure – soft copies followed by originals, A simply signed POA is usually required	March 18
Syria	All operations suspended until further notice	All deadlines are automatically extended to the first working day	All documents should be submitted once the PTO re-opens	March 23
Tunisia	All operations suspended until April 6, 2020	All deadlines falling between March 23 and April 5 are automatically extended to April 6	TMO will be be flexible during this period. A simply signed POA is usually required	March 23
UAE	PTO is still operating	No extension announced yet	Original documents can be submitted online or otherwise sent by courier	March 23
West Bank	All operations are suspended until April 6, 2020	All deadlines falling between March 22 and April 5 are automatically extended to April 6	A simply signed copy of POA is sufficient and the original may be submitted within three months from the filing date. Due to the current situation, more than one extension of time is acceptable	March 22
Yemen	PTO is still operating	All deadlines are suspended until further notice	Original documents should be submitted once received without late surcharges, simply signed copies of the required documents are sufficient at this stage (original documents should be submitted whenever possible)	March 30

For more information on how to reach a particular office in the Saba IP Network, please click here. Should you have any questions, or require any additional information on the above, please contact us at support@sabaip.com