Trademark registration Lebanon

You can apply for registration of your trade-mark in Lebanon at the Trade Department of the Ministry of Economy and Trade of the Lebanese Republic. It is also allowed to trade in Lebanon without registering your brand name. Conversely, you can also register your brand name without trading. However you look at it, you are only protected by having your brand registered.

You must submit several documents before your application is processed. Think of all contact details, but also the data about your company. For example, provide an extract from the Trade Register or a copy of the deed of incorporation. It is often difficult to determine exactly what you are trading from your brand name, so make a list of the goods or services you offer. Naturally, you must also provide a copy of your brand name. Make sure that the copy is the same as the original brand name, only then will the registration be valid for your trademark. So think of the colours, shapes or certain three-dimensional aspects.

First of all, you need to understand why it is best to register your trademark before trading. If external parties see that you are using a successful brand name, they may want to take advantage of it. If you haven’t registered a brand name in Lebanon yet, another individual or company can. In Lebanon, the first person to register his trademark has all the rights to use that trademark. For example, trade in Lebanon can be made impossible if you do not register your trademark on time.

Besides taking your name, a company or individual can go even further. The goods or services you offer can also be copied indiscriminately if your name is not registered. So avoid endless conflicts about ownership or that you cannot act at all by registering your brand name in Lebanon in time.

To find out immediately whether you have a chance of protecting your brand, it is best to conduct a trademark search. This allows you to see which brand names already exist in Lebanon that may resemble your unique name. This way you immediately know where you stand and to what extent you can use your brand name safely. Please note, in Lebanon a trademark search must be done in Latin. Also, figurative elements in the brand cannot be searched for, but textual elements can.

With your application, only what you actually provide is protected. If your brand name consists of several elements, such as an image and a word, then only that combination is valid when you register your brand name. If you also want to secure the individual components, you must submit separate applications for this. If you don’t, everyone can claim parts of your brand name without any problems.

When this situation arises, all is not immediately lost. If a problem arises, you can appeal when a third party not only uses part of your brand name, but also offers the same type of goods or services. Whether your defense will actually be successful remains to be seen, after all, every conflict is a different story. Prevent such a situation and not only have your full brand name registered in Lebanon, but also its various parts.