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INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IN GAZA STRIP

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Opposition Term

03 Months

Registration Term

07 Years

First Renewal Term

14 Years

Subsequent Renewal Term

14 Years

  • The Palestinian Trademark and Patent Law of 1938 are adopted in Gaza Strip.

  • Any person claiming to be the proprietor of a used or proposed to be used trademark who is desirous of registering such trademark needs to apply in writing to the registrar functioning under the Ministry of Commerce.

  • It follows a 'first-to-file’ system. Multi-class applications cannot be filed.

  • Gaza Strip follows the 10th edition of Nice Classification. Multi-class trademark applications are not acceptable.

  • The third parties can file opposition actions against a trademark application within three (03) months following its publication date in the official gazette.

  • A trademark registration is valid for seven (07) years from the date of filing the application, which is further renewable indefinitely for successive periods of fourteen (14) years each.

  • The trademark law provides for a grace period of one (01) month for the late renewal of a trademark, which is subject to the payment of a lateness fine. A trademark registration can be renewed at any time after the expiry of the relevant registration as long as the Registrar has not ordered that such trademark registration should be cancelled from the register of trademarks.

  • The term for cancellation of a registered trademark based on non-use is three (03) years from the date of registration.

  • Gaza Strip is not a contracting party to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property or to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

  • Currently, intellectual property is governed by the Civil Claims Law of 1933 and the Palestinian Trademark and Patent Law of 1938 in Gaza Strip.

  • For seeking patent protection in Gaza Strip, an application has to be filed with the Patent Office, which administers the entire process of patent grant.

  • In Gaza Strip, an invention that satisfies the conditions of originality, novelty, inventive step, and industrial applicability, subjects to patentability. Process patent and product patent are the two types of patents that can be protected.

  • In Gaza Strip, both conventional and non-conventional patent applications can be filed.

  • In Gaza Strip, an opposition against a patent application can be raised at the pre-grant stage within three (03) months approximately.

  • The term patent protection is four (04) years as from the filing date, which is further renewable for additional three (03) periods of four (04) years each. Palestine is not part of the TRIPS Agreement; therefore, it is not obliged to have a minimum protection term of twenty (20) years.

  • A patent shall be in effect for the entire period where the patentee paid the fee prescribed with approval by the Knesset Finance Committee at the times prescribed as aforesaid. Where the fees have not been paid, the effect of the patent shall lapse at the time prescribed for payment of the fee.

  • If a renewal fee was not paid at the time prescribed for its payment, then it may be paid within six (06) months thereafter with the addition of a fee in a prescribed amount, and when that has been done, the fee shall be deemed to have been paid at the time prescribed for its payment under section 56 and the patent shall be deemed not to have lapsed.

  • Opposition against an industrial design application can be raised within two (02) months from the date of publication in Gaza Strip.

  • The total duration of industrial design registration in Gaza Strip is fifteen (15) years from the date of application. The initial registration term is five (05) years, which is further extendible for two (02) terms of five (05) years each upon payment of the renewal fee.

  • There is no specific copyright law in Gaza Strip. The civil law only deals with the mechanism of copyright protection.

  • Generally, the copyright protection term lasts for a period of fifty (50) years after the death of the author of the work.