IP statistics for Syria

A principal source of IP statistics for Syria is the annual reports issued by the Directorate of Commercial and Industrial Property Protection (DCIP). However, the reports in different years have presented the information in different ways and therefore, in relation to some information, it is difficult to obtain a complete picture. For example, the number of trademark applications filed in 2007 and 2008 was published but was not published in the year before or after. Indeed, in the case of patents, the reports in different years have published different numbers for the same year. For example, for the year 2004, the 2007 and 2008 reports state that 56 patents were granted. However, the report for 2006 states that only 32 were granted.

For numbers of filed applications, we are reliant on the information published in the annual reports. However, for the numbers of patents granted, or trademarks and designs registered, a certain amount of cross checking can be done against the Official Journal. For example, in 2009, the Patent Office published two groups of granted patents, totaling 47 patents, whereas the annual report for 2009 states that 49 patents were granted.

With these caveats, we present below a selection of IP statistics for Syria.

Infringement

The DCIP reported that 186 complaints were filed in 2009 concerning trademark infringement. This is a slight increase on the previous year when 178 complaints were filed.

In 2009, only 21 complaints concerning design infringement were filed, whereas in the previous year 32 complaints were filed.

Complaints of patent infringement increased from 6 to 13 from 2008 to 2009.

The report also mentions that 650 of its cases are presently before the courts. The kinds of cases are not mentioned.

Trademarks

In 2009, it appears that there was a steep drop in the number of trademarks registered in Syria, down to 1769 from the previous year when 3394 marks were registered. 962 marks were renewed, down from 1124 the previous year. These numbers are reported in the DCIP annual report for 2009.

However, the 12 official journals for 2009 present a different set of statistics. According to our count, 2254 marks were published as registered. 2815 applications were advertised for opposition. 1500 renewals and 1104 applications for renewal were published. 1650 international applications were published, in addition to the 2815 local applications mentioned (meaning that 4465 applications were published for opposition).

To make matters slightly more complex, 33 marks were published as registered in three appendices to the government’s 2009 official gazette (in which decrees, laws, etc are published). This brings the total of registered marks published in 2009 to 2287.

The discrepancy between the annual report numbers and those coming from the official journal is presumably the result of the different methods of calculation. It seems that the DCIP does not count the marks it publishes but those that it has processed, whether published or not.

Patents

The Syrian Patent Office has published its journal for the first half of 2010. It contained 24 granted patents. The last published patent is number 5701. This means that since the introduction of the patent law in 1946, a mere 5701 patents have been granted. The number of applications filed is not published but we can deduce from the application numbers being issued that it was probably around the 8700 mark by the end of 2010. Previous DCIP annual reports indicate that 299 patent applications were filed in 2008 and 278 in 2007.