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The law for trademark protection in Gaza is the Palestinian Patent and Trademark Ordinance No. 35 of 1938, and the law for trademark protection in the West Bank is the Jordanian Trademark Law No. 33 of 1952.
The Palestinian Ministry of Economy has established an Intellectual Property Department and has trademark offices in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as the Gaza Trademark Office and the West Bank Trademark Office.
2. The official language is Arabic
3. The principle of Palestinian trademark application also follows the principle of prior application. Registering Palestinian trademarks includes: commodity trademarks, series trademarks, joint trademarks, defense trademarks, certification trademarks, and color trademarks.
4. Palestinian trademark rights must be obtained through registration, and the trademark classification follows the Nice classification, but cross class applications are not allowed.
5. It should be noted that during the review process, special issues may be involved:
Coexistence Agreement: If the application is preliminarily rejected due to the prior registration of a trademark, if the applicant can reach a valid coexistence agreement with the prior trademark owner, the agreement can be used as evidence for approval of registration. The acceptance of the agreement is at the discretion of the Trademark Office.
Declaration of Non Exclusive Use: There is a system of declaring non exclusive use in both Gaza and the West Bank region (waiving the exclusive use of a certain non identifying element of their trademark).
Palestine has not yet joined international treaties such as the Madrid Agreement and the Madrid Protocol, therefore, trademark registration in Gaza and the West Bank of Palestine can only be obtained through the "single country registration" method.
The Palestinian Gaza trademark is valid for 7 years after registration, and can be renewed within 6 months before the expiration date, with a renewal period of 14 years. The trademark registration in the West Bank of Palestine is valid for 7 years, and can be renewed within 1 year before the expiration date, with a renewal period of 14 years.
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written application for trademark registration -
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power of attorney -
Applicant's identification documentsNote: Currently, trademark applications do not accept multiple types of applications for one trademark. If multiple types of applications are required, individual applications must be submitted for each type.
b. The language of the application materials must be Arabic.
c. If the applicant does not have a residence or business office within Gaza, they must provide a Gaza address for document delivery and appoint a local agent in Gaza.
d. The power of attorney for trademark agency in the West Bank region of the Jordan River needs to be notarized and authenticated by the embassy or consulate.
Before the applicant submits a Palestinian trademark registration application, after confirming the application for Gaza and/or the West Bank, a search must be conducted on the pre applied trademark to ensure its registrability;
The applicant shall submit the prepared trademark application materials to the Trademark Office and pay the application fee;
Legitimacy review of submitted application documents, trademark designs, power of attorney, and other related documents; Those who meet the requirements will be granted the application date and application number;
According to the law, review whether the trademark has registrability, whether it is the same or similar to a previously registered trademark, and whether it violates the prohibition clause of the Trademark Law. For trademarks that fail substantive examination, the examiner will notify the applicant in writing and inform them of the reasons for rejection. The applicant may submit a re examination within the time limit from the date of receiving the rejection notice. Otherwise, the application will be deemed abandoned, and the application date and number will not be retained;
If the examination is approved, the trademark application will be published in the official gazette for a period of 3 months. During the three-month announcement period, any third party may raise objections to the trademark application. If there are no objections, the trademark will be registered;
Trademarks that have been ruled to be eligible for registration after opposition, or trademarks that have been published without opposition, will be granted registration and a registration certificate will be issued.
Note: a. The examination of trademark registration applications takes approximately 18-24 months. However, the processing time limit shall be calculated from the date of receipt of the document, and the period of notification for correction, application for reply, defense, or other legitimate reasons for postponement shall not be counted.
b. Although the relevant laws in Palestine do not mandate the use of a trademark after application, if the trademark is not used for two consecutive years after application, it may be revoked by a third party and become invalid.
c. The West Bank Trademark Office requires that trademark applications be submitted together with a scanned copy of a simple signed authorization letter. However, a simple signed authorization letter should be notarized and authenticated by the embassy, and submitted to the relevant Palestinian consulate and trademark office within one month from the date of submission.
