Qatar continues to be an attractive destination for IP owners seeking brand protection. The local legal outfits have noted an increased volume of work in comparison with the previous year. Meanwhile, the FIFA World Cup dominated the news in 2022. The country allowed significant leeway to the IP assets related...

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Qatar continues to be an attractive destination for IP owners seeking brand protection. The local legal outfits have noted an increased volume of work in comparison with the previous year. Meanwhile, the FIFA World Cup dominated the news in 2022. The country allowed significant leeway to the IP assets related to the event: in 2021, Qatar passed a law granting protection to all FIFA trademarks registered in any Paris Convention member country, even if they are not registered in Qatar itself. However, in other jurisdictions, the marks related to the event have encountered issues. In April 2022, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court announced that under the local Trademark Act, QATAR 2022 and WORLD CUP 2022 registered by FIFA are invalid due to their lack of distinctiveness. The court also held that two World Cup 2022-related trademarks registered by PUMA are invalid due to their potentially misleading nature.

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