Foreign companies who have seen their logos or trademarks copied by Bahraini firms can now see justice done.

This comes as Bahrain became the last GCC state to accept priority claims for trademarks and industrial designs.

The Bahraini Industrial Property Office started accepting applications that claim priority for designs last week.

Any applications filed abroad in the last six months can be used to claim priority in the Bahraini market.

Under the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property if an application for the registration of a trademark or an industrial design has been filed at any contracting state of the convention, the applicant or his successor may, within a period of six months as of the filing date, apply for the same protection in Bahrain.

This application will have priority over applications which may have been filed in Bahrain previously by other people.

Although Bahrain has been a member of the Paris Convention since October 29, 1997, claiming priority was not possible until the above-mentioned date.

A law on trademarks was issued last year, but the clause on priority claims has not been implemented until now. TradeArabia News Service