Bahrain
Patent/IP in Bahrain
Related forum posts
Intellectual Property
For a list of Patent Attorneys, please click on the 'Patent Attorneys in Bahrain' tab located above.
Intellectual Property, or IP, as it is colloquially called, is characterised as legal protection for commercially precious products of human intellect. There are, generally, three forms of IP: patents, copyrights and trademarks. Although these articles are similar many some ways, they each have individual idiosyncrasies and definitions which make them unique. Perhaps most importantly, there is no physicality to intellectual property. If effectively safeguards an intangible idea or process.
Patents
Generally speaking, patents are granted to inventors for inventions. These can include anything from machinery, tools, processes, chemicals, biotechnology, software, etc.
To qualify for a patent, an inventor must invariably create something that is:
- Of patentable matter
- Unique to patentee
- Merited and can be utilised
- Innovative
- Non-obvious
Under a patent, the patentee reserves the right stop or limit others from utilising and trading the invention. Without explicit permission from the patentee, persons using the patent in any of these ways are infringing, and could be subjected to legal action.
Applying for a Patent
Protection can be gained by registering at the Patents and Trademarks Registration Office. If a registered patent is not used within two years of the start date, it is liable to be revoked on application to the courts by a third party. Patent registration has a life of fifteen years. It can thereafter be renewed for five years.
Trademarks
Trademarks are used to denote epithets, logos, symbols, slogans, etc, that are individual to a business and product. Fundamentally, the things that distinguish your product or service from a competitor's. Businesses understandably go to endless lengths to have control over their trademarks. Therefore, any persons found infringing upon them through unlawful use could be subject to legal action.
Famous examples of trademarks are Coca Cola and McDonald's.
Applying for a Trademark
Under the Patent, Design and Trademark Law, a trademark registration has a longevity of ten years from the date of application. It is subsequently renewable for periods of ten years thereafter. The word trademark encompasses names, words, signatures, characters, number, drawings, etc, in the distinguishing of products or services.
Trademarks are acquired by registration, although a trademark application can be opposed upon the production of sufficient proof of the prior use if the mark in Bahrain of any where else in the world.
Copyright
Copyright gives someone to sell and reproduce a protected product, which is invariably printed work. Things like books, magazines, websites, photographs, music, film and art are common examples of copyrighted work. Copyright denotes five rights of the author, artist, etc: reproduction, distribution, adaptation, performance and display. Use of such materials or works without the explicit permission of the copyright holder is classed as infringement, and persons doing so could be subject to legal action.
Registration Office
The Patent Office for the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf
P.O. Box 340227
Riyadh
11333
Saudi Arabia
Telephone: +96 61 482 9378
Fax: +96 61 482 9600
Website:
www.gccpo.org/e-index.html
