UAE

 

The Ministry of Economy issued a circular email “the Highlights of the new IP Law System” for the Federal Law No.11 of 2021 & Cabinet Resolution No.6 of 2021. We have reviewed the same and created the below precis for the ease of your understanding which includes the new legalization requirements for the powers of attorney (PoA) and other supporting documents related to patents and industrial designs. With pleasure it must be noted that PoAs and other required documents will no longer need to be legalized by the Consulate of the UAE abroad and notarization of the same will suffice. For local applicants a stamp of a UAE public entity (e.g. government organizations, national universities) is now regarded as equivalent to notarization.

 

There have also been changes to period of public disclosure (12 months) with divisional applications now being allowed for both Patent and Utility Model while the application is pending. Moreover, while the application is pending conversion of application is allowed for both Patent and Utility Models.

 

Pre-grant publication:  publication of pending application (with 18 months from filing date) is allowed with acceleration of examination procedure. First examination will take place within 6 months from filing the request for acceleration if express examination is Available.

 

With respect to claims and drafting methods, the number of claims must not exceed 50 for Patent and 10 for Utility Model. Device or Method “Use” is not allowed along with Multiple dependent claims.

 

Reduced Examination Fee for Minor Errors:  in case the examination report is issued for Minor defects, the cost for re-examination will reduced to become AED 1,000(~USD 273) for Utility Modal and AED  2000 (~USD 545) for Patent.

 

Opposition matters have been made relatively against a granted patent under the new system. Consequent to grant of a patent, it is published in the Industrial Property Circular; any Petitioner who intends to file an opposition must, first, request Post-Grant Re-examination of the granted Patent before the Patent Office within 90 days from the publication date. Upon issuance of the re-examination decision the Petitioner will be entitled to file the opposition before the Appeal Committee within 60 days from the issuance date of the said decision. Post-Grant Amendment: Post-Grant amendment is allowed for claims (Scope of the Claims Shall Only be Same or Reduced)

 

Grace period of annuity payment has now been increased within 12 months from the elapse of the due date (late fee payable)

 

MOROCCO

 

The Government of Morocco deposited its instrument of accession to the Geneva Act 1999 (Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs) on April 22, 2022 and entered into force on July 22, 2022. This is great news for creative art companies and designers as they are now able to seek design protection in all of the 94 countries covered by the Hague System from Morocco and also for international applicants in designating the state.

 

QATAR

 

The State of Qatar has established the Court of Investment and Commerce (CIC) by royal decree; HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, issued Law No. 21 of 2021 regarding the establishment of the said Court which has been implemented on May 10, 2022.  The competent court shall consider cases pertaining to intellectual property rights apart from disputes related to trade, commerce, unfair competition and investments. Furthermore, the CIC has been entrusted the handling of all issues pertaining to dispute resolution and enforcement of IP rights. IP protection strategy in Qatar has been further boosted by this step to encourage brand owners, investors and other stake holders by being able to protect their intangible assets and seek recourse in the time of need.

 

LEBANON

 

As a part of the ongoing strikes by employees across the civil services the IPO in Lebanon was facing severe disruption of work. The Ministry of Economy & Trade recently announced that the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) will resume its operations and will prioritise the processing of already filed applications with due dates. In the meantime, Thursday has been designated as the only available day in a week for trademark filing with a provision to seek expedited processing for urgent matters.

 

CAPE VERDE

 

With much pleasure we wish to inform you that soon users of the ARIPO system will be able to designate Cape Verde as one of the designated countries as it is set to become the 22nd member. On January 7, 2022, the Cape Verdean Parliament approved the accession of the country to the Lusaka Agreement, which also incorporates the accession to Banjul and Harare Protocols. Following the approved accession, the country has also joined four key WIPO treaties: Madrid Protocol, Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement and Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and these treaties entered into force on July 6, 2022.

 

KENYA

 

The Anti-Counterfeiting Authority (ACA) issued on 26 April 2022 a Public Notice (No.1/2022) informing the public of the commencement of the mandatory recordal of IP rights with effect from 1 July 2022. This therefore means that from this date, any person importing goods and IP owners will have to record such rights with the ACA. The recordal of IP rights will be processed through the Anti-Counterfeit Authority Integrated Management System (“AIMS”) and any recordal completed on the AIMS system will be valid for a period of 12 months and must be renewed to ensure it retains its validity. The second Public Notice (No.2/2022) states the deadline extension to submit a mandatory record to 1 January 2023.

 

SAUDI ARABIA

 

The Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property (SAIP) has now added the European Patent Office (EPO) to their list of PPH partnerships allowing to undergo an accelerated examination with a simple procedure upon the applicant’s request. Such arrangement already exists with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Japan Patent Office (JPO), Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), and China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA). That said, such acceleration requests can only be made for physics, civil engineering, mechanics, and metals. The SAIP in its constant endeavour to improve their services adding the EPO collaboration is expected to streamline the Saudi patent registration procedures even more.

 

Should you have any questions, or require any additional information on the above updates or any IP matters in our region, please contact us at info@jahcoip.com