Business brief 2014: UAE

01-06-2014

Fatima Arrad

Patents can be protected in the UAE through direct national filing, the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) or the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which has a unified patent system for the six GCC countries: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait. However, the GCC is not part of the PCT so only original patents can be filed under the GCC system.

Patents

How do you register or secure patent rights, and is national or international coverage most appropriate?

The registration procedure for patents in the UAE involves filing, formal and substantive examinations, publication, and grant. The patent application is filed and submitted to the UAE patent office for examination. Once the formal examination is completed, the application is forwarded to the appointed patent office for substantive examination. Once the letter of grant is issued, it is published in the Official Gazette. The opposition term as per UAE laws is 60 days. In the absence of any opposition, the patent grant letter is issued to the applicant.


patents; trademarks; copyright; counterfeiting

WIPR