Trademark, Patent & Intellectual Property News - Middle East & GCC | Saba & Co

Trademark, Patent & Intellectual Property News - Middle East & GCC | Saba & Co

The Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has started accepting applications for the registration of Arabic domain names following ICANN’s decision to allow Internationalized Domain Names in non-Latin scripts. Egypt will now join the ranks of Saudi Arabia and UAE as the three countries in the Middle East to allow for the registration of Arabic domain names. It is expected that Arabic domain names will attract substantially more internet users in a region dominated by Arab speakers. The Ministry of Communications has begun accepting applications in two phases: the Sunrise and Land rush phases.

The Sunrise phase in Egypt, which ended on August 22, 2010, was open only to Governmental Institutions, State Universities Educational Centers, and individuals or companies with local presence in Egypt. The Landrush phase, which will begin after the Sunrise phase, will allow anyone to apply for the registration of domain names of high commercial value. No trademark or trade name registration is required.