A registered trademark is the difference between owning a brand and merely using one. We clear, file, and prosecute applications before the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property (SAIP), from a search of what is already on the register through to a granted mark. Registration is a legal judgement made before the form is submitted, and that is the work we do.
Registration in good faith makes you the owner of the mark, and the sooner you file, the sooner that title hardens against a competitor who would otherwise register your name first.
Registration is open to nationals and businesses of the Gulf states, to foreign residents licensed to do business in a member state, to nationals of treaty countries, and to public bodies (art. 5 of the GCC Trademark Law). For most commercial brands, almost any genuine business user can apply, whether an individual trader, a manufacturer, or a company.
The practical constraint is domicile. An applicant must have an address in Saudi Arabia to file in their own name. A foreign business with no Saudi domicile cannot file directly and must appoint a local agent to register and prosecute the application on its behalf (Regs art. 2).
The route into SAIP is closed to an overseas brand owner without a local representative. This is the most common reason a foreign business needs Saudi counsel to register. We hold the SAIP trademark services licence, so we act as that local agent and carry the application through to the certificate.
From another business's (art. 2): names, words, letters, numbers, logos, packaging, shapes, a colour or combination of colours, and even a sound or a smell. The single quality that matters across all of them is distinctiveness, the capacity to identify a commercial source.
SAIP also refuses a sign identical or similar to an earlier filed or registered mark for related goods, deceptive marks, official flags and emblems, purely religious symbols, and imitations of a well-known mark (arts. 3 and 4).
Yes. The most common ground of refusal is an earlier confusingly similar mark, and that risk is something you can assess before you commit any fee. A clearance search surfaces the conflicts and distinctiveness problems early, so you can adjust the mark, narrow the goods, or decide not to file.
A search is not conclusive, because the final call on registrability sits with SAIP's examiners. When we clear a mark, we read the register against the specific goods and services it will cover, not just the words, because two marks in unrelated classes can coexist while two similar marks over related goods cannot.
SAIP must decide on a compliant application within 90 days of filing (art. 12). The path runs through examination, publication, and the certificate.
We submit the application through SAIP's portal with the image of the mark, the goods or services it will cover and their class, and the supporting documents the Regulations require. A mark can be filed in one class or several (art. 9), and the specification of goods is a substantive choice, not a formality.
SAIP examines the mark against the art. 3 bars and the register. The examiner may accept it, or require amendments to distinguish it from an earlier mark. A request for amendment must be answered within 90 days, or the application is treated as abandoned. A refusal is given in writing with reasons.
Once SAIP accepts the mark, it is published in the IP Gazette before registration, and the publication fee falls due (art. 14). Publication puts the public on notice that the mark is about to be registered.
Any interested party may oppose the mark within 60 days of publication. If an opposition is filed, we answer it within the statutory window, and SAIP decides after hearing the parties (arts. 14 and 15), with a right of appeal to the competent court.
If the opposition window closes with no opposition, SAIP registers the mark and issues the certificate (arts. 16 and 17). The effect of registration backdates to the filing date, so protection is measured from the day the application went in.
SAIP charges three official fees across the life of an application, payable at the stages they relate to. These are the government fees only, separate from professional fees for clearance, filing, and prosecution. The figures are for one mark in one class.
| Official fee | Amount | When it is paid |
|---|---|---|
| Application for registration | SAR 1,000 | On filing |
| Publication | SAR 500 | On acceptance, before publication |
| Registration and certificate | SAR 5,000 | After the opposition window, on registration |
A Saudi trademark is not kept alive by a recurring yearly charge. Once registered, it stays in force for 10 years from the filing date. What keeps it alive is renewal before each term ends and genuine use in the market, not an annual payment. The next section covers both.
A Saudi registration lasts 10 years from the filing date and is renewable for further 10-year terms (art. 20). Renewal is filed during the final year, with a six-month grace period after expiry. Renewal happens without a fresh examination and without reopening the mark to opposition.
| Renewal | Fee |
|---|---|
| Renewal during the last year of protection | SAR 5,500 |
| Renewal within the six-month grace period after expiry | SAR 6,500 |
A registered mark must also be used. The court may order a mark struck from the register, on the application of any interested party, if it has not been genuinely used for five consecutive years, unless the owner shows a valid justification (art. 24). Keeping evidence of genuine use, and watching the register for conflicting later filings, are the two habits that protect a registration over its life.
Registration gives the owner an exclusive right to use the mark and to stop others using an identical or similar sign, in the course of trade, on related goods where confusion is likely (art. 17). Registration in good faith also makes you the owner of the mark, and once it is coupled with five years of use without dispute, the ownership can no longer be challenged (art. 7). It also unlocks practical enforcement, including asking customs to suspend infringing imports at the border (art. 38).
Our obligation is the professional skill and care we bring to clearing, filing, and prosecuting your application, not a guaranteed registration. The decision to register a mark rests with SAIP's examiners on the law and the state of the register.
Yes, but a foreign business with no Saudi domicile cannot file directly. It must appoint a local agent to register and prosecute the application on its behalf (arts. 5 and 8). We act as that local agent.
A mark with no distinctive character or one that is merely descriptive, a sign identical or similar to an earlier mark for related goods, deceptive marks, official flags and emblems, purely religious symbols, and imitations of a well-known mark (arts. 3 and 4).
SAIP must decide on a compliant application within 90 days of filing, followed by a 60-day publication window before the certificate issues. An application that draws an objection or an opposition takes longer, because each step carries its own response period.
Ten years from the filing date, renewable for further 10-year terms. Renewal is filed in the final year, with a six-month grace period after expiry before SAIP strikes the mark (art. 20).
No. There is no annual maintenance fee. A registration is kept alive by renewal every 10 years and by genuine use, not by a recurring yearly charge.
A refusal is not the end. You can file a grievance within 60 days of being notified, and appeal that decision to the competent court within a further 60 days (art. 13). Letting the window pass without acting abandons the application, so the deadline is decisive.
Send us the mark and the goods or services it will cover. We will run a clearance search against the Saudi register, place it on the distinctiveness scale, flag any conflict or art. 3 problem, and tell you whether it is worth filing before you spend on the application.