The reason is the certificate issuance fee, the final registration fee. In the past, the Registrar did not require it at renewal. Since 2018 it does, and if the fee was never paid it is collected with the renewal.
In one 2025 file, the previous agent had not paid it. As we reported to the foreign agent, unpaid, the registration fees are considered incomplete, the registration itself is not finalised, and the mark is at risk of cancellation. We paid the fee on the day the renewal was filed.
In the same renewal, the Registrar also removed some goods because they fell outside the old alphabetical classification under which the mark was originally registered.
When you take over an older Iraqi portfolio:
- Ask your agent to check at the Office whether the certificate issuance fee was ever paid, not only whether the renewal was filed.
- When updating the goods at renewal, choose items that fit the old sub-classes the mark was registered under.
- Review the renewed specification for deleted goods.
Taking over trademarks in Iraq from another agent? Ask us for a status check before the next renewal falls due.