Because Oman is a "first to file" jurisdiction, trademark registration is required in order to be granted rights to a trademark. An unregistered trademark can only be protected in a few exceptional cases. Trademark applications must be submitted to the Directorate General of Commerce's commercial sector (MOCI).
A trademark is everything that takes a distinctive form such as names, words, signatures, characters, symbols, numbers, titles, seals, drawings, images, engravings, packaging, figurative elements, shapes and/or a colour or a mixture of colours, or any other sign or group of signs used or intended to be used to distinguish goods or services of one business from the goods or services of another business, indicate the provision of a service, or indicate control and inspection of goods or services.
The trademark will also need to be published in a local daily magazine. Publication in the official gazette is aimed at inviting any interested party to oppose the registration of the trademark.
Renewal of trademark
Under the Omani trademark law, the protection conferred by the registration of a trademark is for a period of 10 years from the date of filing the registration application. The trademark owner shall have the right to renew the registration of a registered mark within the six months following the expiration of the registration. If the period of six months lapses and the owner of the mark has not applied for renewal thereof, the trademark office shall strike off the mark from the register.
Significance of registering a trademark
It is also very important to have your trademark registered in other countries as it will be easier to challenge other potential infringing trademarks. It should be noted that the Omani trademark law provides leeway for established trademarks. For example, if a recognized trademark is not registered in Oman and a competitor wishes to register a similar trademark to that well known trademark, under Omani trademark law, the applicant of that well established trademark is within its rights to challenge the proposed registration
