BAGHDAD- In an announcement dated April 7, 2024, the Directorate of Patents and Industrial Designs in Iraq declared a significant procedural change regarding trademark applications. Effective immediately, applicants are required to submit the official publication fees concurrently with the official filing fees.
Previously, applicants were permitted to file trademark applications subsequent to receiving initial acceptance from the TMO, with the official filing fees being paid at that stage. Following this, the TMO would scrutinize the application’s formalities, such as the submission of the Power of Attorney (PoA), and subsequently issue a request for payment of the official publication fees. However, under the new protocol, applicants must now remit both the official publication fees and the official filing fees simultaneously.