Does filing a mark in the Kurdistan Region differ from the federal path?
If the activity is in Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Duhok or Halabja, is filing before the Directorate of Trademark and Commercial Data Registration at the Ministry of Industry and Minerals enough, or is a step also required before a body in the Region? The answer is not built on an assumption, nor on the name of a department that has not been documented in a published official regional instrument.
What is established on the federal path?
Trademarks and Trade Descriptions Law No. 21 of 1957, after the amendment by Law No. 9 of 2010, places the federal register at the Ministry of Industry and Minerals, in the Registrar's charge. The application, publication, opposition and certificate are provisions of this Law, explained on the registration page and on the path of the application. That is the path as set out in the Iraqi Legislation Database.
The protection of a well-known mark even without registration in Iraq — under article 4 bis — is a federal rule read in the text. By itself it does not mean that a regional step is unnecessary if a regional instrument in force requires one.
What follows a federal registration?
A mark entered in the federal register is protected for ten years, renewable for the same period on an application presented in the final year, in the manner the regulations provide, after payment of the prescribed fees. Before the certificate, the mark is published after initial acceptance, and an opposition may be lodged within ninety days of the last publication. The file therefore keeps the filing date and number and the date of each publication, because the periods run from them.
Trademark filing and the Kurdistan Region
The trade or industry formation in the Region, and the Region's official journal, are reviewed before any reliance is placed on a parallel register, or on the sufficiency of the federal entry alone.
If a regional law is enacted that brings the federal statute into force or that sets up a parallel regime, its instrument is named once a published official instrument is available, in line with the method on official legal references. Until then the sentence is cautiously formed: the federal path is known from its text, and the Region's arrangement is asked of its own source.
The office is in Baghdad, Yarmouk, with no branch in Erbil or elsewhere.
Legal basis and sources
- Trademarks and Trade Descriptions Law No. 21 of 1957, as amended
- Law No. 9 of 2010 amending the Trademarks and Trade Descriptions Law
Frequently asked questions
Does a federal trademark certificate have automatic effect in the Kurdistan Region?
That cannot be stated from the federal text alone. The federal text is read, and it is checked whether the Region has an instrument giving it effect or a parallel regime, from the Region's official source.
Should the mark be filed in Baghdad or in Erbil?
The federal filing is with the Registrar of Trademarks at the Ministry of Industry and Minerals. Any regional filing — if the body is established — is confirmed with the trade or industry formation in the Region from its published official instrument. The path for a particular file is confirmed from the federal text and from the Region's published official instrument.
Related topics and articles
- 01The path of a trademark application from filing to the certificateA federal trademark application before the Registrar: filing, announcement, objection and the certificate, under Law No. 21 of 1957 as amended.
- 02Official references for federal law and Kurdistan Region legislationWhere to obtain the official text of a federal Iraqi statute and of Kurdistan Region legislation, and how the Gazette and the Legislation Database differ.
- 03Opposing registration of a mark, and imitation of a markObjecting to a trademark application, asking the court to cancel an entry, and what the Law provides for imitation or unlawful use, with no fine amounts.