Outset and Objectives

The Supreme Council (13th session, Abu Dhabi, 1992) approved the GCC Patent Law with a view to pushing ahead the scientific and technical advancement, achieving the cooperation objectives and setting up the necessary scientific basis for supporting and promoting research and applied science and technology.

The GCC Patent Law was amended per resolution of the Supreme Council (20th session, Riyadh, November 1992). The Rules of Implementation were also amended per resolution of the Ministerial Council (74th session, April 2000) to be consistent with the international agreements in patent field such as Paris Convention (Industrial Property) and TRIPs Agreement, which addresses aspects of intellectual property in World Trade Organization.

The GCC Patent Office, based at the GCC Headquarter, Riyadh, was established on October 1st, 1998. The Office’s main function is to register patents in the GCC Member States.

The Office encourages scientific research and technology among Member States, facilitates the flow of technology and supports economic development. It is anticipated that the Office will contribute to the transfer of technology, develop the local technologies to meet the needs of he region and the objectives of development therein, encourage individuals to invest their thoughts in these productive fields and activate the trade, industry and agricultural markets through the introduction of new products and assist industrial and agricultural development dissemination of the inventors’ thoughts in these fields and ensuring their intellectual property rights.


Work Mechanism of the Office

The Office grants Patent certificates to the applications deposited with it if such applications meet the requirements set forth in the Office's Bylaw and Implementation rules thereof. The Patents granted by the Office are valid across all Member States and need not any further procedures at Member States. The Patent Law prohibits infringing any patent issued by the Office, subject to criminal or civil liability, or both according to the laws and regulations of the GCC Member States.


Resolution of the Ministerial Council (94th session, 13 March, 2005) to form the Appeal Committee for settlement of the actions brought by the patents’ applicants was an important step that would contribute to enhancing the work of the Office. The committee is composed of 12 members; each Member State is represented by two persons: a legal expert and a technician specialized in scientific fields. The Committee members attend the hearing session in their personal capacity.

The Committee held its first meeting on 16-17 Shaaban, 1426 H. (20-21 September, 2005) where a chairman and vice-chairman were elected, and one of the Office staff was assigned as a committee secretary. Since formed, the committee has held thirteen meetings, which included deliberation and consultation sessions as well sessions for hearing appeals submitted by applicants issued judgments. The Appeal Committee has issued 22 judgments of which 21 judgments were in favor of the appellants (paten owners) while just one judgment was in favor of the Patent Office.

It is worth mentioning that the Office’s judgments (decisions) related to granting or canceling of patents or refusing applications may be objected to within three months from the date published in the periodic publications of the Office or at its web site. Objection is usually made through submitting an appeal to the Appeal Committee against the judgment in question.


Achievements

1- The total number of the applications deposited with the patent Office until the end of Augustus 2007 accounted for 8980 patent applications. The number of applications deposited with the Office over the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 totaled 1073, 1465, 1900 and 2331 applications respectively. That is an annual increase accounting for 30%, 41%, 29% and 22%.

By the end of 2007, the number of patents granted by the Office accounted for 483 patents, while the number of applications that were refused for non-completion of the requirements or the wish of the applicants to discontinue granting procedures accounted for 1652 applications. The Office publishes a bulletin called "Patent Bulletin" – eight issues have been issued so far- which covers all the activities relating to patent applications. The office also makes this information available at its web site.

2- Coordination among Member States in the field of Patents

The first coordinating meeting of the directors of the patent offices in Member States was held on 17 September 2006 at the sideline of the 16th meeting the Board Directors at the Secretariat Headquarter in Riyadh. The most important conclusions and recommendations reached in this meeting were as follows:

• To make active the provision of Article (20) of the GCC Economic Agreement relating to patents
• To Recommend the need for the Office to participate in the negotiations made between Member States and the other economic groupings in the field of patents, and informing Member States of all relevant developments
• To exchange documents of the patents issued by the patent offices in member States and instruct the Office to establish links at its web site for these documents
• To exchange computer software used for patent databases and to benefit from successful experiences in this field
• To exchange invitations for attending the symposiums and the various events related to patents and IP
• To exchange training experience
• To provide and exchange laws, rules and publications on patents in Member States

The second coordinating meeting of the directors of the patent offices in Member States was held on 13 March 2007 at the sideline of the regional workshop of the directors of Patent offices in Member States that was organized by WIPO (Doha, Qatar). The third meeting was held at the GCC Secretariat in Riyadh on 28 October 2007.

The Office also participates in covering the IPR aspects in the GCC negotiations for trade liberalization with other countries and economic groupings.

In cooperation with the Chambers of Commerce & Industry at Member States and the research institutions and centers, the Office organizes forums and lectures about IPRs. The officials at the Office make visits to the foundations caring for the talented individuals and meet with individuals, who have creative thoughts in the field of inventions and innovations, with a view to developing and promoting, depositing and inspecting these thoughts and finally grant them patents to protect them from infringement. The Office also contributes to the enrichment of the intellectual property knowledge and recognition of its importance through IP articles and research works published in the GCC media.


International Cooperation

The Office has made several MOUs with many international patent offices such as the EU Patent Office, the Austrian Patent Office, the Swedish Patent Office, the Australian Patent Office, the Japanese Patent Office and recently the Chinese Patent Office. These MOUs have covered cooperation in the several areas such as training of the Office personnel, examining patent applications and exchanging patent information published at the bulletin and the web sites of those offices. The Office also cooperates with WIPO (Geneva) in the field of exchange of patent information and consultations regarding the recent developments of the patent laws and rules worldwide. The Office also attends IP conferences organized by WIPO in cooperation with the EU Office. In addition, it organizes training courses for the Office personnel, given that there are no universities or institutions in the region that provide curricula or training in the field of Intellectual Property, in general, and Industrial Property (patents), in particular.