Lebanon is a member of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. Registration in Lebanon is deposit-based. A single application may cover goods and/or services in any number of classes, with a fee per class. Lebanon follows the 11th edition of the Nice International Classification, and a single Power of Attorney filed with one application suffices for use in several applications.
Under the Paris Convention, an applicant who files in any Union country enjoys a 12-month priority right for filing in Lebanon. Where priority is claimed, filing of the Power of Attorney and priority document may be deferred for up to three months from acceptance.
Once filed, the application is examined for conflict with public order and morals and with national or foreign emblems, and for registrability in light of prior rights — specifically similar or identical marks registered in the same class; a similarity notice must be signed on the client's behalf acknowledging any such conflict. Once accepted, the Registrar awaits the decision of the Boycott Office to verify whether the applicant appears on the boycott list. The mark is deemed registered upon payment of the registration fees; the law contains no provisions governing opposition to registration. In normal circumstances registration is completed within two weeks, and the certificate issues within two weeks of registration.
Protection runs for 15 years from the registration date, renewable indefinitely for like periods. Late renewal is possible within a three-month grace period from expiry of protection.
An assignment must be recorded to be effective against third parties, through an assignment or merger recordal in the Trademark Register at the Lebanese Intellectual Property Protection Office. Rights may be assigned with or without the business. The assignment/merger must be recorded within three months of its date; otherwise a late fine accrues after a three-month grace period, charged for every two months of delay in recording.
Use is not mandatory for filing, maintaining or renewing a registration; prior use is the key factor in determining ownership but is not a precondition of registration. A registration may only be cancelled through court proceedings brought by a party claiming prior use and seeking cancellation.
The following are offences punishable by law: unauthorised use of a registered mark; imitation of a mark and its use on the same goods in the same class with intent to sell; storing such goods for that purpose or offering goods bearing a counterfeit mark; and unauthorised use of another's mark to promote goods of the same class.
Trademark/Service Mark Applications
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