Provision is made for the registration of trade marks for goods and services, for collective marks and for well-known marks. Applications may be filed as national applications, in appropriate circumstances claiming priority in terms of the Paris Convention.

Types of Trademarks registrable

• Tunisia operates a multi-class filing system.
• There are no provisions for the registration of collective marks, defensive marks or series marks
• The International Classification of goods and services is applicable. Service marks are registrable.
• Well-known marks also enjoy protection in this jurisdiction

Documents required for trademark registration

• Power of Attorney (not legalized) – a separate form is required for each application
• Prints of the mark
• Priority document (if applicable), with verified French translation
• Details of the applicant.
• Specification of goods

International and regional arrangements

Tunisia is a member of the Paris convention.

Notes

Tunisia is no longer a member of the Madrid Union, however, rights in existing International registrations designating Tunisia are still recognized, and upon renewal priority can be claimed when filing a national application

Renewals

Trademark registration is valid for an initial period of 10 years and it may be renewed indefinitely for subsequent periods of 10 years.

Renewals Documents

• Power of Attorney, simply signed – a separate form is required for each registration.
• Positive film and 10 prints, even for word marks in ordinary type.

Assignments/Mergers

• Power of Attorney, simply signed.
• Deed of Assignment or other instrument of title, with verified French translation.

Change of Name

• Power of Attorney, simply signed.
• Certificate of Change of Name, with verified French translation.

Change of Address

Power of Attorney, simply signed.

Licences/Registered Users

• Powers of Attorney, simply signed, from proprietor and licensee.
• Licence Agreement, with verified French translation.

Tunisia is a member of the Paris Convention, the Budapest Treaty, the PCT and the WTO/TRIPS.

Patent protection is available via a national filing, in appropriate circumstances with a claim to priority, or by way of a national phase application based on an international PCT application in which Tunisia is designated.

Filing Requirements:

National Phase PCT Application:

Tunisia recently joined PCT, the patent legislation has not yet been amended to include the filing requirements for national phase PCT applications.

Patents of Invention (non-PCT):

• Power of Attorney (simply signed)
• Specification, claims and abstract in English, Arabic or French
• Formal drawings, if applicable
• Assignment of Priority Rights
• Priority document with verified translation into language in which the application was filed

Grant

The term of a patent is twenty years from the filing date.

Renewal

Renewal fees fall due annually commencing on the first anniversary of the filing date.

Tunisia is a member of the Paris Convention, the Hague Agreement, and the WTO/TRIPS.

Design protection is available by a national filing or by way of an international filing via the Hague Agreement on the International Registration of Industrial Designs, designating Tunisia.

Filing Requirements:

• Power of attorney, simply signed
• Drawings or photographs of the design
• Certified copy of priority document, if priority is claimed, with verified French or Arabic translation
• Description of the kind of products for which the industrial design is to be used in French or Arabic (required on the day of filing), if not in French or Arabic, then translation must be filed within three months.

Duration and Renewal:

The duration of protection of an industrial design is granted for five, ten or fifteen years starting from the date of filing the application, at the Applicant’s choosing, and upon payment of the prescribed fee.
The Applicant or his beneficiaries may, with the requisite declaration, extend the duration of protection where it has been made only for a period of five or ten years, without exceeding the maximum period of protection set at fifteen years

Tunisia is a member of the Berne Convention and the WTO/TRIPS.

The Law provides for the following works to be eligible for copyright:

• written or printed works such as books, pamphlets and other writings
• works created for the theater or for broadcasting (sound or visual), whether dramatic, dramatico-musical, choreographic or dumbshow
• musical compositions, with or without words
• photographic works, and works expressed by a process analogous to photography
• cinematographic works, and works expressed by a process producing visual effects analogous to cinematography
• works executed by painting, drawing, lithography, etching or woodcutting and other similar works
• sculpture of all kinds
• works of architecture, comprising also designs, models and the mode of construction
• tapestries and articles of artistic handwork, including also the drawings or models
• maps, and drawings and graphics and three-dimensional reproductions of a scientific or artistic nature
• lectures
• works inspired by folklore
• computer software
• translations and arrangements or adaptations of the above works.

Copyright shall also apply to derivative marks.