Pursuant to Ministerial Resolution no. 412/2008, the Kuwaiti Trademark Office (KTO) will start accepting trademark applications claiming classes under the 8th Edition of the Nice International Classification. The Resolution was published in Official Gazette no. 895 dated November 2, 2008 and became effective in the country as of its date of publication.
For a long time before this new decision, the KTO followed the 6th Edition of the Nice Classification, which is limited to 42 classes only. Class 42 of the 6th Edition included diverse and unrelated services such as computer programming, restaurants, and surgery. With the introduction of the 8th Edition, the scope of class 42 has been limited and re-classified into additional new classes: 43, 44 and 45.
The KTO will soon decide on how it will treat pending trademark applications as well as trademark registrations in class 42 following the new classification system. We will be reporting on this issue in due course.
Should you have any specific inquiries regarding the subject matter, please contact us at info@sabaip.com