– Law No. 23 of 2010 on Trademarks and Geographical Indications, issued on November 21, 2010, in force since February 22, 2011.
– Implementing Regulations No. 213 of 2011 relating to Law No. 23, in force since October 3, 2011.

– Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), since March 29, 1979.
– Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, Stockholm Act, since February 15, 2007.
– WTO’s TRIPS Agreement, since June 26, 2014.

Applicant: Yemeni nationals having production or service enterprises and foreigners who have similar enterprises in Yemen.

Service marks: protectable.

Well-known marks: are recognized and protected.

Exceptions to protection: (a) marks lacking distinctiveness or that consist of a common appellation, design, or picture of the product; (b) marks contrary to morality or public order; (c) public emblems, flags and other symbols and named or denominations relating to the State or to a state granting reciprocity to the Republic of Yemen, unless authorized by the competent authority; (d) official signs and hallmarks of the States in (c) above relating to control and guaranty when they are intended to be used as trademarks on the same or similar goods; (e) signs identical to religious symbols; (f) symbols (and their imitations) of the Red Cross or Red Crescent and the like; (g) geographical names when they create uncertainty as to the source or origin of a product; (h) pictures or emblems or third parties without their consent; (i) declarations relating to grades of study or honorary distinctions to which applicant cannot prove legal entitlement; (j) marks likely to deceive the public, which contain false indications of origin or other characteristics of the products, as well as marks containing an indication of a fictitious, falsified or counterfeit trade name; (k) marks covering goods in International Class 33, alcoholic beverages, etc.

Priority: can be claimed within six months from the filing date in any Paris Convention member country. The legalized power of attorney and the simple certificate of incorporation documents should be submitted within thirty days from filing the application.

Examination procedure: an application along with its supporting documents is submitted to the Registrar who notifies the applicant of the initial acceptance of his application as to its form and the completeness of the required documents within ten days of receipt. The application is then examined and the Registrar decides to reject or accept it with or without modification within about two months.

Publication: an accepted application is published upon acceptance for opposition purposes.

Disclaimers: available. 

Letters of consent: can be accepted, must be legalized up to a Yemeni Consulate.

Opposition: possible, by any interested party, within ninety days from the date of publication. In the absence of opposition, the trademark is registered and the certificate of registration is issued in paper format. The registration is also published after being registered.

Classification: International Classification of Goods and Services under the 10th Edition of the Nice Agreement. Class 33 and alcoholic goods in class 32 are not registrable.

Filing requirements for an application (to be sent to resident agent):
1. Power of attorney, legalized up to a Yemeni Consulate or any other Arab Consulate;
2. A simple copy of the Certificate of Incorporation or an extract from the Commercial Register of the applicant with a simple English translation (legalization is not required);
3. The name, address and nationality of the applicant;
4. A list of goods or services to be covered by the application. Class headings not accepted;
5. Clear print of the mark to be filed.

Note: if the applicant is an individual, any document certifying that the applicant is dealing with commercial activities is required in the absence of the Certificate of Incorporation.

Electronic filing: is not available in Yemen.

Electronic signatures: are not accepted (only wet signatures). It is possible to submit soft scanned copies of any required document; the original must be submitted at a later date.

For recording an assignment or a merger:
1. Power of attorney from the assignee, legalized up to a Yemeni Consulate or any other Arab Consulate;
2. Deed of assignment comprising number and date of assigned trademarks or certificate of merger, legalized as above.

For recording a license:
1. Power of attorney, legalized up to a Yemeni Consulate or any other Arab Consulate;
2. License agreement, legalized as above.

For recording a change of name/address:
1. Power of attorney, legalized up to a Yemeni Consulate or any other Arab Consulate;
2. A certified or notarized certificate of change of name/address, with a simple English translation (legalization is not required).

Effects of registration: a registration comes into effect as from the date of the application, but is restricted to the goods or services for which the mark is registered. Registration entails prohibiting third parties from using the mark in respect of the goods or services covered by the mark in the whole territories of the Republic of Yemen.

Duration: ten years as from the application filing date.

Renewal: thereafter, the mark is renewable for similar periods. The renewal application can be submitted during the last year of the validity term. Grace period: the Trademark Law provides for a one-year period for late renewal of a trademark, without payment of any lateness fine.

Validation of invalidated marks: it is not possible to renew a trademark registration after the expiry of the one-year grace period, however, it is possible to file a fresh application to obtain the protection of such trademark, which is subjected to all trademark registration procedure as a new trademark application which is not related to the previous expired trademark registration.

Assignment: a registered mark should be assigned along with or without the enterprise whose products or services are protected. An assignment has to be in writing and is not effective unless it is entered in the Trademark Register and published in the Official Gazette.

License: possible for some or all the products covered by a trademark registration. Recordal with the General Department of Intellectual Property Protection is compulsory in order to be effective against third parties.

Use – cancellation for non-use: use is not compulsory, however, a trademark will be removed from the Register if required by the owner or by court order on request of any interested party on the basis of non-use for five years without valid reasons.

Infringement and penalties: any party who knowingly imitates, forges or illegally uses a registered trademark, or sells, offers for sale, circulates or acquires with the aim of sale any goods bearing a registered trademark which is imitated or forged, is considered to have acted in violation of the provisions of the law. Penalties include seizure of goods, two years imprisonment and/or payment of a fine of YER 1,000,000.