Riyadh: The Ministry of Commerce clarified the criteria for determining trade name similarity, under which a registrar may reject an application to reserve or register a trade name if it is found to be similar to a name that is already reserved, registered, or internationally recognized.

According to Saudi Press Agency, Article 5 of the Executive Regulations of the Trade Names Law states that a trade name is considered similar if its spelling closely resembles another name. This includes instances where the spelling is identical but the word order is different, or where the name contains added, omitted, or modified pronouns, dual or plural forms, or the definite article.

Similarity is also determined when the pronunciation of letters or numbers matches, or vice versa. These criteria apply to English trade names as well, based on their corresponding Arabic phonetic spelling.

The ministry emphasized that applications containing all the required data must be reviewed and processed within 10 days of submission, in line with Article 7 of the Executive Regulations. The registrar may extend the review period by no more than 30 days if the application requires approval from other relevant authorities.