“Accordingly, please note that Yemen-Sanaa follows a single class-based protection principle whereby only four items can be selected per trademark application; thus, it is recommended to select the main four items of goods or services which will provide legal protection to the mark for the selected four items as well as all related items in the same line of activity or file additional trademark applications should the applicant would like to have legal protection of the mark for additional items of goods or services in excess of the first four items,” said Jehad Ali Hasan, CEO at JAH Intellectual Property in Doha. “Under the newly adopted classification, the registration of trademarks for alcoholic beverages (Class 33), certain alcoholic goods (Class 32), and pork meat (Class 29) is not permitted.” 

He added: “The trademark office revealed the introduction of new trademark services on its online platform, which can be currently accessed by the registered agents at the TMO office only. This transition also extends to other relevant services such as recordals, oppositions and counterstatement, which are now required to be filed electronically rather than in paper form.” 

His colleague Zayrah Marzan, head of IP Advisory at the same firm, said: “We would like to clarify that Yemen is not a signatory to either the Madrid Agreement or the Madrid Protocol. Accordingly, please note that international registrations are treated as national registrations with respect to the calculation of the validity, and as such, there are no deficiencies with respect to registration and validity of a trademark application filed before WIPO compared to a national application in these jurisdictions.”