An administrative directive has recently been issued by the Office of the Ministry of Economy & Trading in Libya, which states that the Libya Trademark Office will no longer be accepting trade mark applications filed by foreign applicants with effect from 1 November 2022.
In the context of reorganizing the workflow of the Trademark Office, it was decided to suspend the registration of trade marks owned by foreign companies. Accordingly, it is said that the activities of the Office as of 1 November 2022 will be limited to the following:
- Accepting applications of companies owning national production and service units only.
- Archiving issued trade mark decisions.
- Preparing information systems, in accordance with international standards, in a manner that does not violate the regulations and decisions issued in this regard, in cooperation with the Economic Information and Documentation Center.
- The Director of the Trademark Office shall submit all data not included in the Ministry’s system and not circulated in accordance with the legal procedures and organizational structure of the Ministry, approved by Cabinet Decree No. (235) of 2021, and deliver the application record from No. 22099 to the last mark published in the Official Gazette and the last mark filed in the register.
- The register of companies dealing with the Trademark Office in registering trade marks.
- The register of transfer and assignment of ownership of trade marks.
At this stage, the impact of the directive on marks that have already been accepted is unclear. We are attempting to engage with the Office to obtain further details and explore other options available (i.e. taking the decision on appeal to the Administrative Court).
We will keep you updated as soon as we have any further information.
Source: Libyan authority for research Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research – administrative directive dated 2 November 2022
