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INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IN GCC

Algeria Flag

Opposition Term

60 Days

Registration Term

10 Years

First Renewal Term

10 Years

Subsequent Renewal Term

10 Years

  • The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, originally known as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), is a regional intergovernmental political and economic union consisting of six (06) Arab states of the Persian Gulf, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Charter of the GCC was signed on 25th May 1981 for formally establishing the institution.

  • The GCC Trade Mark Law is a unified law dealing with the protection, enforcement, and commercialization of trademarks across each of the GCC member states.

  • It is not a unitary GCC registration system and brand owners seeking protection of their trademarks still have to file separate trademark applications with the Trade Mark Offices of each GCC country and pay separate official fees.

  • The GCC member states are signatory to the Paris Convention.

  • Multi-class trademark applications are allowed.

  • An applicant who has applied for a trademark in a country, which is a signatory to a multinational treaty to which a GCC state is a party, may claim priority within six (06) months of the date of filing the earlier corresponding application.

  • If a mark is accepted prior to its registration, it is published at the expense of the registrant applicant.

  • Any concerned person may, within sixty (60) days from the date of publication, object to the registration of a mark.

  • A registered trademark is protected for a period of 10 (ten) years. The mark can subsequently be renewed indefinitely every ten (10) years.

  • The grace period for filing the trademark renewal upon expiration of the renewal term is six (06) months.

  • If a registered trademark is not used for a consecutive period of five (05) years in the member country of the GCC in which it is registered, third parties will be able to present cancellations actions against it.

  • The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, originally known as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), is a regional intergovernmental political and economic union consisting of six (06) Arab states of the Persian Gulf, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Charter of the GCC was signed on 25th May 1981 for formally establishing the institution.

  • An application for patent registration has to be filed with the Patent Office of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (Gulf Cooperation Council).

  • The Office receives and examines the GCC patent applications, which, upon grant, are purportedly valid in all the six (06) GCC states.

  • The GCC is not a member of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.

  • The types of applications that can be filed include the National Application, Convention Application, and Divisional Application.

  • An invention that satisfies the conditions of originality, novelty, inventive step, and industrial applicability, subjects to patentability.

  • The GCC has an online register and online gazette.

  • Process patent and product patent are the two types of patents that can be protected.

  • All GCC states also have a national patent office, which is generally located in a ministry department and handles the IP registrations.

  • A pre-grant opposition can be filed within three (03) months from publication of the patent application.

  • The term of patent protection is twenty (20) years. First annuity is due in the second year. The last annuity is due in the 20th year.

  • There is a grace period of six (06) months for the payment of annuities.

  • Utility model protection is provided under patent protection.

  • In the case of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), there exists no cooperation treaty concerning design protection. This leaves the applicants with the only other alternative, which is seeking protection by filing separate applications through national patent offices in each of those countries which form a part of the GCC.