From the Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property Group's latest newsletter comes some
news from Tunisia, a country that doesn't feature often enough on this weblog, given its strategic and political importance within North Africa.
TUNIS - The Tunisian Agency for Internet (ATI) announced that it approved the registration of domain names with two characters and Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) letters (á, â, ã, ä, å, æ, ç, è, é, ê, ë, ì, í, î ï, ñ, ò, ó, ô, õ, ö œ, ù, ú, û, ü, ý, ÿ, ß).
The registration of domain names under ". Tn" and "تونس." will be planned according to a schedule including three periods as follows:
1- From August 1, 2013 until January 31, 2014: The registration of domain names with two characters and IDN letters is restricted during this phase to local governmental organizations.
2- From October 1, 2013, until January 31, 2014: During this phase, the registration of domain names with two characters and IDN letters is allowed to holders of registered or filed trademarks in Tunisia.
3- From December 2, 2013 until January 31, 2014: During this phase, the registration of such domain names is open to any person or entity in accordance with the terms of the naming charter of the national domain ". Tn" and "تونس.".
This juncture is as good as any for reminding trade mark owners and their representatives that Tunisia has two scripts (Latin and Arabic) and three languages -- Tunisian Arabic, French and Berber -- all of which has repercussions for the scope of protection that a trade mark will enjoy.
