Intake — Trademark Filing

Intake — Trademark Filing

When this applies

Activate when a user wants to register a trademark, service mark, brand name, logo, or other distinctive sign in one or more jurisdictions. This skill gathers the ten inputs needed to produce a filing strategy, jurisdiction-coverage plan, and cost estimate before routing to the drafting and filing workflow. A clearance search recommendation is always part of the output — filing without clearing is a waste of filing fees.

Behavior

Multi-turn intake (two turns for multi-jurisdiction strategies; one turn for single-country word-mark filings). Extract any information already given. Always recommend a clearance search if one has not been done — do not route to filing without flagging clearance risk.

Required fields

1. Mark description

What is being registered?

2. Owner

• Full legal name of the trademark owner (not the representative or applicant's lawyer — the registration must be in the name of the legal owner of the brand).
• Entity type: individual, company, trust, government entity.
• Nationality and jurisdiction of incorporation / residence.
• Note: some MENA jurisdictions (KSA) require foreign applicants to designate a local agent; GCC nationals may have reciprocal simplified treatment.

3. Goods and services — Nice Classification

The International Classification of Goods and Services (Nice Classification, currently 12th edition) organizes all goods and services into 45 classes (1–34: goods; 35–45: services). The filing fee is per class in almost every jurisdiction.

Confirm:

• What goods / services does the brand cover?
• In which Nice class(es)?

Guidance (common classes for startups / MENA-focused businesses):

• Class 9: software, mobile apps, AI products, electronic goods
• Class 35: business services, marketing, retail store services
• Class 36: financial services, insurance, real estate, fintech
• Class 38: telecommunications, internet platforms, messaging
• Class 41: education, training, entertainment, publishing
• Class 42: SaaS, software development, tech consulting, legal tech
• Class 45: legal services, personal/social services, security

If the user is unsure of the classes, provide a class recommendation based on the business description. Filing in too narrow a class set leaves the brand exposed; filing in unnecessary classes wastes fees.

4. Countries and filing route

Confirm the target jurisdiction list:

National filings (each country filed separately):

• UAE: Ministry of Economy Trademark Office (online via moe.gov.ae); trademark register maintained by MoE; renewal every 10 years.
• KSA: Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property (SAIP); online portal; 10-year registration; Arabic and/or English.
• Lebanon: Ministry of Economy and Trade — Trademark and Industrial Designs Directorate; French / Arabic; 15-year registration renewable.
• Egypt: Egyptian Intellectual Property Office (EIPO) under ITIDA; Arabic primary; 10-year registration; renewal for similar periods.
• EUIPO (EU): single application covers all 27 EU member states; 10-year registration; powerful opposition system.
• UKIPO: post-Brexit UK-only registration; 10-year; examined on absolute and relative grounds.
• USPTO: US federal registration; Statement of Use or intent-to-use basis; 10-year renewal (with 5/6-year Section 8 declaration).

Madrid Protocol (WIPO — international route):

• Single international application via WIPO's Madrid System designates multiple member countries.
• Based on a home-country basic application or registration.
• Cost-effective for 5+ country portfolios; standard 18-month examination period per designated country.
• Key MENA member countries: UAE (member), KSA (member), EG (member), LB (not a member as at 2025 — verify; direct national filing required).
• Weakness: a successful central attack on the basic application in the first 5 years cancels all international designations ("central attack risk").

GCC Gulf Cooperation Council trademark:

• GCC Trademark Law (Unified Trademark Law) provides for a single GCC-wide registration covering all 6 GCC member states (UAE, KSA, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar).
• Filed through any GCC member state's trademark office; administered by GCC General Secretariat.
• Highly cost-effective for brands operating across the GCC.
• Note: examine current status of GCC trademark system operability — implementation has been uneven; verify whether the GCC joint registration system is fully operational for the target offices.

5. Prior use

• Date of first use in commerce (or first use in commerce in each target country, if used in multiple markets).
• Evidence of use: sales receipts, website screenshots, social media with timestamps, packaging, advertising materials.
• Prior use affects:
  • US: use-in-commerce basis (Section 1(a)) vs intent-to-use basis (Section 1(b)); use-based filings are stronger.
  • UK / EU: use-based rights (passing-off / prior use defense) can be raised against a later registered mark.
  • LB, KSA, UAE: first-to-file systems — use alone does not create trademark rights; registration is essential. Prior use may help in opposition proceedings but does not substitute for registration.

6. Existing registrations

List any trademark registrations already held:

• Country, registration number, class(es), registration date, expiry date.
• Are any registrations at risk of cancellation for non-use? (Most jurisdictions require 3–5 years of use to avoid cancellation; UAE: non-use for 5 consecutive years grounds for cancellation.)
• Any pending applications or oppositions?

7. Clearance search

Has a clearance / availability search been done?

• If yes: what was found? Were any confusingly similar marks identified? Was an FTO (freedom to operate) opinion obtained?
• If no: strongly recommend conducting one before filing. Filing without clearing risks:
  • Opposition by an earlier right-holder.
  • Infringement claims after commercial launch (potentially more expensive than the search would have cost).
• Claude can route to [[tool-wipo-trademark-search]] and [[tool-local-trademark-registers]] for preliminary screening, but recommend engaging a local trademark attorney for a formal clearance opinion in each target jurisdiction.

8. Arabic-script handling for MENA filings

For any mark to be used in MENA markets:

• If the brand is an English or foreign-language word mark, confirm whether an Arabic transliteration or translation will be filed alongside it.
• Arabic and English versions of a mark should ideally be registered separately AND as a combined mark.
• KSA: Arabic-language description of the mark is required in the application form; Arabic word marks must be phonetically clear.
• UAE: bilingual filings (Arabic + English) are common and advisable for broader protection.
• LB: French and Arabic both accepted; French widely used in commercial filings.
• Note: phonetic similarity in Arabic can be different from visual similarity — a mark that is visually distinct in Latin script may be phonetically confusingly similar to an existing Arabic mark.

9. Color claim

• Is the mark being filed in color or in black and white?
• Black-and-white (grayscale) filing: provides broader protection — the registration covers the mark in any color combination.
• Color filing: protects only the specific color(s) filed; allows competitors to use the same design in different colors.
• Best practice for logos: file in black and white for broadest protection; consider filing a color version as a secondary registration if brand identity is strongly color-dependent.
• Pantone / RAL codes should be specified if a color claim is made.

10. Description of mark

A brief, precise description of the mark as it will appear in the application:

• For word marks: "The word ACME in standard characters."
• For figurative / logo marks: "A stylized eagle in profile, with wings spread, colored blue and white, with the word ACME beneath in sans-serif font."
• Clear descriptions avoid office actions and accelerate examination.

Output

At the end of intake, produce:

1. A structured intake summary confirming all ten fields.
2. A filing strategy recommendation: national vs Madrid Protocol vs GCC trademark — with one-paragraph rationale comparing cost, timeline, and coverage.
3. A clearance search recommendation: confirm whether a search has been done; if not, recommend scope of search (identical and phonetically similar marks; same and adjacent classes).
4. A cost estimate framework (per-class, per-jurisdiction official fees; note that professional fees vary by agent).
5. A routing instruction to [[research-precedent-finder]] for clearance context and to the filing workflow.

Jurisdictional notes

Do not

• Route to filing before recommending a clearance search — the cost of a search is trivial compared to the cost of an infringement dispute.
• File only in English-script for brands that will primarily trade in Arabic-speaking MENA markets — brand protection requires Arabic-language coverage.
• Assume Madrid Protocol coverage is available for Lebanon until current membership status is confirmed.
• Recommend a single class filing without reviewing the full scope of the user's commercial activities — under-filing in classes is a common and consequential mistake.

Related skills

• [[research-precedent-finder]]
• [[tool-wipo-trademark-search]]
• [[tool-local-trademark-registers]]
• [[kb-intellectual-property-mena]]
• [[conversation-intake-nda]]
• [[conversation-uncertainty-language]]