Changes to Opposition Procedures Introduced in Oman

MUSCAT - As per the new Omani Industrial Property Rights Law, which was promulgated by Royal Decree No. 67/2008 in May, a number of substantial changes have been introduced to the opposition procedures in Oman, a press release by Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property (AGIP) stated.

According to Article 38, Paragraph 2(b), any person may, within 90 days as of the date of the publication of an application for the registration of a trademark that belongs to a third party, file with the Trademark Registrar a written notice of opposition to the registration of such trademark; the opposition should be published in the Official Gazette.

In line with Article 38, Paragraph 2(c), the applicant may, within 90 days from the publication date of the opposition in the Official Gazette, send to the Registrar a counterstatement including the grounds on which his application for the registration of the trademark is based.

If the trademark application has been rejected by the Registrar, the applicant may file an appeal against the Registrar’s opposition decision at the Commercial Court within 60 days from the issuance of such decision, as stated by Article 38, Paragraph 3(b).

In connection with the above, the official fee for the publication of an opposition in the Official Gazette is 80 Omani Rials.