City squares articles

Your Trade Name Is Not Your Trademark

Many owners in Muscat believe their brand is safe once the commercial register shows their name, but it is not. A trade name on a CR tells the state who you are, yet it does not stop a rival from selling goods under a look-alike logo.

Brand protection comes from a separate file with a separate office. The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion runs it through its National Intellectual Property Office. Even the ministry's own business portal says a reserved trade name has to go through the trademark process before it counts as a mark.

Without trademark registration Oman's law gives a brand owner very little to stand on in a dispute. This guide covers the law, the real fees, each step in order, and what keeps a mark alive after it is granted. Every figure comes from the official service pages or the published law, checked in October 2026.

The Law That Applies in 2026

For trademark registration Oman applies the GCC Trademark Law, the shared law of the six Gulf states. Royal Decree 33/2017 brought it into force in Oman. It was issued on 25 July 2017, published in Official Gazette issue 1204 on 30 July 2017, and applied from the next day.

The older Industrial Property Rights Law, issued by Royal Decree 67/2008, has not gone away. Article 47 of the GCC law says the 2008 law still applies wherever the GCC text is silent, and Article 46 lets marks registered under the old rules keep their protection.

We found no change to the trademark law itself in 2025 or 2026. The official fee pages were updated on 2 July 2026, so use those figures rather than older guides that quote a split of separate fees. You can read the full text of Royal Decree 33/2017 and the GCC Trademark Law online.

What You Can and Cannot Register

The law defines a mark widely. Words, names, letters, numbers, drawings, colours, shapes and packaging all qualify if they tell your goods or services apart from others. Article 1 even allows a sound or a smell to count as a mark.

Article 2 then lists what the office must refuse, and four groups cover most real cases.

Marks with nothing distinctive about them. A plain word for the product itself, such as "Dates" for a box of dates, cannot be owned by one trader.

Marks that copy public or religious symbols. Flags, state emblems, coins, the Red Crescent and purely religious symbols are all off limits to private owners.

Marks that take someone else's rights. You cannot use a person's name or photo without consent. A mark close to an earlier filing for related goods will fail, and so will a copy of a famous mark.

Marks that mislead buyers. Signs that deceive people about origin or quality are refused, and the official service page adds that a mark must not include the names of countries.

Who Can File and Whether You Need an Agent

Article 4 of the law names four groups who may own a registered mark in Oman. The first is any person or company holding the nationality of a Gulf state, whether a maker, trader, craftsman or service business. The second is a foreigner living in a GCC state who is allowed to run a business there.

The third group is nationals or residents of a country that is party, together with a GCC state, to a multilateral IP treaty. The fourth is government bodies, which can hold marks in their own name.

The application lists a power of attorney among its required documents, so most files go through a registered agent. Agents themselves sign up in the office's register for a fee of OMR 300. Foreign owners also have the Madrid route, since the Madrid Protocol has been in force for Oman since 16 October 2007, according to WIPO.

If you filed the same mark abroad first, Article 10 gives you six months to claim that earlier date as your priority date in Oman.

The Filing Process, Step by Step

Step 1: run an official search before paying the larger fee. The ministry's availability check costs OMR 50 and takes about two days. It tells you whether a clash already sits on the register.

Step 2: choose the class your goods or services fall into. The official service covers one class per application, although Article 8 of the law lets the regulations allow more. The classes follow the international Nice system, and the Oman Business Platform offers a Nice classification tool. Two classes mean two applications and two fees.

Step 3: file the application and pay once. The official apply for a trademark service asks for a clear image of the mark and a power of attorney. One fee of OMR 170 covers filing, publication and registration, and the listed service time is 100 days.

Step 4: wait for the examiner to decide. Under Article 11, the office must decide within 90 days of a complete filing. If it asks for changes, you have 90 days to reply, or the file is treated as dropped.

Step 5: appeal if the office refuses the mark. Article 12 gives you 60 days to challenge a refusal before a review committee, and then another 60 days to go to court.

Many owners file right after company setup, while the brand name is fresh. Trademark work sits well alongside our post company formation services in Oman, since the same documents are already on hand.

Publication and the 60 Day Opposition Window

An accepted mark is not yet registered. Article 13 requires the office to publish it first, and the ministry prints these notices in the Official Gazette. Issue 1653 in June 2026, for example, carried a section of new trademark filings.

Anyone with an interest then has 60 days from publication to file a written objection. The office must send you a copy within 30 days, and you then have 60 days to answer in writing, or the law treats your application as withdrawn.

The office hears both sides and decides, and either party may take that decision to court within 60 days. If no one objects at all, Article 15 says the mark must be registered as soon as the window closes.

Registration then reaches back to your filing date. That detail matters, because your rights start from the day you applied rather than the day the certificate arrived.

After Trademark Registration Oman Gives You 10 Years

Article 19 sets protection at ten years from the filing date. You can renew for another ten years at a time, and renewal involves no new examination.

Renew in the final year of protection. If you miss the expiry date, you still have six months of grace. After that, the office strikes the mark off the register.

Budget for the renewal fee and the Gazette notice. The trademark renewal service lists OMR 200 for renewal plus OMR 50 for publication, with a service time of ten days.

Keep using the mark or risk losing it. Under Article 23, anyone can ask the court to cancel a mark that has not been used in earnest for five years in a row. Once a mark is struck off, others cannot register it for the same goods for three years.

Five years of calm use makes ownership secure. Article 6 protects owners in good faith. After five years of registration and use with no court dispute, your ownership can no longer be challenged.

Selling, Licensing and Enforcing Your Mark

A registered mark is an asset that you can sell or license, and the register must show every change to it.

Recording a sale or transfer of the mark. This costs OMR 100 plus OMR 50 for publication, with a 15 day service time. The contract must be certified first, and until the change is recorded and published, it has no effect against third parties.

Letting another business use your mark. A licence must be in writing and entered in the register under Article 30. The annotation fee is OMR 100 plus OMR 50 for the Gazette notice.

Updating the details on file. Changing the image, owner data, agent or listed goods costs OMR 20, as long as the change does not alter the core of a registered mark.

Stopping fake goods at the border and in court. Owners can ask customs to hold suspect imports, and customs must answer within seven days. An approved request lasts one year. Under Article 42, forging a registered mark carries one month to three years in prison, a fine of OMR 500 to OMR 100,000, or both.

Keeping these dates and filings in order is routine admin work. Many owners hand it to PRO services in Oman rather than track every deadline alone.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to register a trademark in Oman?

The ministry fee is OMR 170 per class, and it covers filing, publication and registration. A prior search costs OMR 50, while agent fees are separate and vary by provider.

How long does the whole process take?

The official service page lists 100 days for the full service. An objection or a request for changes adds time, because each stage has its own 30 to 90 day window under the law.

Does my commercial registration protect my brand name?

No, because the CR records your trade name while a trademark is a separate right with its own register. Our guide on how to get and renew a commercial registration in Oman explains what the CR itself does.

Can a foreign company register a trademark in Oman?

Yes, if it meets Article 4, for example as a national of a treaty country. It can file through a local agent or through the Madrid Protocol, and foreign investors setting up here often combine this with our company formation services in the Sultanate of Oman.

City Squares is an authorised agent of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion, based in Muscat. We help companies prepare and follow up trademark filings, renewals and transfers alongside their other ministry work. Fees and rules change by ministerial decision, so confirm the current figures on the official service pages before you commit.