The Arab Society for the Protection of Intellectual Property is currently working in collaboration with the Higher Council for Science and technology in Egypt, to develop training courses which will be available to people working or interested in the field of Intellectual Property, in both the private and public sectors, throughout the Arab World.
The purpose of such training courses is to promote public awareness and consolidate the basic concepts of intellectual property issues. It is expected that these courses will be carried out in cooperation and coordination with a specialised institute in Europe. The participants of these courses will be granted certificates signed by the three organizing bodies.
UAE to join the PCT very soon
Enforcement of Copyright rules urged in UAE
Mr. Ashok Sharma the Director of the Middle-East branch of Business Software Alliance (BSA), an important organisation in the fight against software piracy, has stated that the strong action taken by the authoritiesof the UAE to enforce the copyright laws has produced significant benefitsfor the country. More and more foreign firms are setting up their regionaloffices in the Emirates, which in turn is creating more jobs for the local economy, increasing foreign investment and leading to an increase in the variety of software available to satisfy local needs.
The strong action taken by the UAE has seen a drop from 88% piracy rates in 1995 to 60% in 1997. These figures are a result of a survey by the BSA and another leading group involved in the fight against piracy, the Software Association. Mr. Sharma also stated that for the fight against software piracy to be successful, any public awareness campaign must be followed up with tough enforcement measures. It is of utmost importance that people are made aware of the copyright laws. However, if after having educated the public, they still fail to abide by the laws and persist in violating them, the enforcement measures must be implemented. According to Mr. Sharma this is the only way that public awareness campaigns will be taken seriously.
Modification of JORDAN's Copyright Law
The Jordan Lower and Upper Houses of Parliament have ratified the modification to the Jordanian Copyright Law. Currently the modification is awaiting issuance of the Royal Decree and publication in the Official Gazette. This is the first modification to the Intellectual Property laws which will be in compliance with the WTO agreement on Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs). Further modifications to the Trademark and Patent laws are expected in the next Parliament session.Circular regarding Refunding Registration Fees in the UAE.Early in July 1998 the UAE registrar issued Decision No. 67 which required that registration fees be paid upon filing. Due to many questions regarding the decision, the following circular was released on July 13th, explaining the cases in which registration fees will be refunded
In implementation of Articles (3) of the Ministerial Decision No. (67) of 1998, regarding payment of the prescribed charges for completion of the procedure of registration of trademarks, there are several cases in which the final registration charges may be recovered, some of which are as follows :
- 1. Applications which are cancelled for failure of the applicant to reply to the Ministry's notifications within the period specified in the notification
- 2. Applications whose conditions of acceptance are not contested within (30) days.
- 3. Applications for which their applicants are not interested to complete the formalities of final registration, provided that this is done before expiry of the period of contest.
- 4. Court judgements according to which the applications for registration, which are not entered in the Register of Trademarks, are rejected.
"The registration charges paid for applications which are entered in the Register of Trademarks, and are thereafter struck off as desired by the applicant, or on the basis of a court order, are not refundable."
It should be noted that the following should be presented in the above-mentioned cases:
- 1. A written application from the applicant or the person who is legally authorised, expressing his desires to recover the registration charges.
- 2. The original receipt which shows that the registration charges were collected.
For further information please contact our Regional office in Jordan or our Emirates office.
Amendment to Agency Agreements in LEBANON
Section 2 of the Decree No. 34 dated August 5, 1967 has been amended to the following :
An annual payment of 500,000 Lebanese Liras (US$ 416) should be made for every agency agreement filed with the registry at the ministry of trade and commerce.
CONFIRMATION of AGIP CONTACT DETAILS IN ALGERIA
Address : P.O. Box 148, Algiers R.P. 16004 Algeria Tel (213-2) 617 171 Fax(213-2) 746-161
Design Applications can now be filed in YEMEN
The Ministry of Supply and Trade in Sanaa has now allowed the filing of design applications. However no further action will be taken on the applications at the present moment. The requirements for filing a design application are:
- 1. A power of attorney duly legalized up to the Consulate of the Republic of Yemen.
- 2. A duly legalized commercial register extract or memorandum of association, if the applicant is a company or corporate body.
- 3. Two copies of the model or design, if it is two-dimensional, or two copies of each view thereof, if it is three-dimensional.
- 4. A duly legalized deed of assignment signed by the inventor, if the applicant is not the inventor.
- 5. A certified copy of the priority document if it is to be claimed.
For further information please contact our Regional office in Jordan or our Yemen office
SUDAN prepares to join the World Trade Organisation
During its session held on 16 August, 1998, the Sudanese Council of Ministers approved the letter of accession of Sudan to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) through the memorandum submitted by H.E. Mr. Othman Al-Hadi Ibrahim, the Minister of Foreign Trade.
The Minister reviewed the general features of the memorandum which dealt with the special characterisitics of Sudan. This includes the current economic situation, economic development programmes, relief programmes, performance of the industrial, agricultural and service sectors, constancy of monetary and fiscal policies, foreign trade liberalisation efforts and their consistancy with the WTO guidelines. The review was conducted along the lines of the Sudanese Foreign trade indicators and the policies relating to encouraging and developing exports and investments.
The memorandum also dealt with the effects of Sudan's accession to WTO particularly with regards to opening up markets to international products, trade and manpower mobility, technology inflow as well as the negative effects on the industrial, financial and agricultural sectors. In terms of intellectual property, Sudan has had industrial property laws since the 1950's and has been party to the Patent Co-Operation Treaty ( PCT) as of 1984. However, certain modifications will have to be made to the intellectual property laws in order for them to be compliant with the Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) once Sudan's accession is under review by the WTO.
PALESTINE to Update IP Laws
Recently a representative from the Ministry of Economy and Trade in the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) traveled to Geneva to attend meetings with WIPO. The aim of the meetings was to provide the PNA with a new draft law concerning intellectual property and all the assistance to implement it.Currently the PNA intellectual property field is governed by 2 laws - the West Bank is governed by the Jordanian Laws, and the Gaza Strip is governed by the Palestinian Laws. Both sets of laws protect Trademarks, Patents and Designs. in brief from our international office.
Japan
Since April 1st 1997, approximately 1,500 applications have been filed for three dimensional trademarks. Prior to Japan revising its trademark laws, only words and designs that could be expressed on a flat surface could be registered in Japan. The Japanese Patent Office disclosed that among the first five 3-D trademarks registered were the Mercedes tri-star emblem and Sega enterprises' Sonic the Hedgehog.
Hong Kong
The Intellectual Property Department has announced that effective August 4, 1998, the Trade Mark Registry will cease to provide manual search facilities based on an index card system and all public searches will have to make use of the computerised search facilities. R
India
On April 22, 1998 the World Trade Organisation's Dispute Settlement Body was informed that the USA and India had agreed to a fifteen month time frame in order for India to modify its patent legislation for pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical products in order to bring it in line with an earlier WTO ruling.
Grenada
On June 22, 1998 Grenada deposited its instruments of accession to the Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT). Grenada will become the 97th contracting state of the PCT on September 22, 1998 and, therefore, Grenada may be designated in any international application filed on or after September 22, 1998 and can be elected for the purposes of international preliminary examination. Nationals and residents of Grenada will be entitled (from the said date) to file international applications under the PCT.
Cambodia and Guatemala
Cambodia and Guatemala have both presented their applications of accession to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. Cambodia presented its application on June 22 and will be bound by the treaty on September 22, whilst Guatemala presented its application on May 18 and will be bound by the treaty on August 18.
Investing in the Middle-East : Part Three - EGYPT
Egypt follows a policy of encouraging investment and providing a climate for attracting foreign capital for investment. Within the framework of restructuring the Egyptian economy, many laws were issued which directly aimed at keeping pace with international economic developments. Among the most important amendments were those made was to Law No. (8) for 1997, the Law for Investment Guarantees and Incentives. The Law contains 46 articles and regulates incentives and guarantees for investments, projects and free zones. The most important aspects and advantages of this law are represented in the following points. It should be noted first that Egypt is a member of the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes.
- 1. The types of activities which enjoy incentives and guarantees were expanded to 16 activities and are as follows:
- a) Reclamation and planting of uncultivated and desert lands or either of them.
- b) Animal, poultry and fish production.
- c) Industry and mining.
- d) Hotels, motels, hotel apartments, touristic villages and touristic transportation.
- e) Chilled transportation of goods, refrigerators for preserving agricultural products, industrial products, foodstuffs, container stations and crops stores.
- f) Air transportation and directly related services.
- g) Marine transportation to overseas.
- h) Petroleum services supporting drilling, exploration and gas transportation and conveyance.
- i) Housing whose units are leased unfurnished for employees accommodation.
- j) Infra-structure including drinking water, drainage, electricity, roads and communications.
- k) Hospitals, medical and treatment centres which offer 10% of their capacity free of charge.
- l) Capital lease.
- m) Securities subscription warranties.
- n) Risk capital.
- o) Production of computer software.
- p) Projects financed by the Social Development Fund.
This law granted authority to the Council of Ministers and added other fields related to investment needed by the country.
- 2. Expansion in granting guarantees to companies and entities which carry on their activities in any of the said fields according to the following:
- a) Prohibition of nationalization or confiscation of companies and enterprises .
- b) Guardianship may not be imposed administratively on companies or enterprises. It is also not allowed to attach, appropriate, freeze or confiscate their properties. Such acts shall be carried on by the competent authority.
- c) No administrative party may interfere in the pricing of companies' or enterprises' products or determine their profits.
- d) Companies and enterprises shall have the right to acquire lands for building and built real estates needed to start and expand their activity, irrespective of the nationality of the partners, their place of residence or percentage of their share.
- e) Companies and enterprises shall have the right to import material, machinery, equipment, spare parts and means of transportation appropriate to the nature of their activity which they need for their establishment, expansion or operation, without the need for registering them in the importers register.Companies and enterprises may export their products without a license and without the need for registering them in the exporters register.
- 3. The provisions of this law also included substantial investment incentives represented in the following:
- a) Full tax exemption for twenty years for projects established outside the Old Valley.
- b) Full tax exemption for ten years for projects in the new industrial areas, inhabited areas and remote regions, as well as projects financed by the Social Development Fund.
- c) Full tax exemption for five years for revenues of commercial and industrial activities or tax exemption of companies' profits.
- d) Exemption for three years from stamp duty, certification fees, registration of companies' memoranda of association and loan and mortgage contracts related to business
- e) Exemption of land registration contracts necessary for establishment of companies and enterprises from the said tax and fees.
- f) Exemption of the proceeds of bonds, finance securities and other similar securities issued by shareholding companies from tax on revenues of movable property, provided that such securities are offered for public subscription, and that the companies are listed in one of the stock exchange markets.
4. Projects established in Free Zones
Provisions of said law also provided that the projects which are established in free zones and the dividends they distribute shall not be subject to the provisions of tax laws in Egypt. These projects are only subject to a nominal fee of 1% of the value of goods when they enter the country- with respect to storage projects-and of the value of goods when they leave the country-with respect to manufacturing and assembling projects. The advantages of investment in free zones are numerous as regards the freedom to choose the field of investment without restrictions, and the non-existence of restrictions on the nationality, amount or transfer of capital or transfer of profits.
The companies law has been linked with encouraging investment. The Law has regulated the various types of companies, and defined them as follows :
- 1. A shareholding company is a company with not less than three partners. Its capital is divided into shares of equal value which can be traded in in the manner provided for in the law. A shareholder's liability is limited to the value of his subscribed shares, and he is not liable for the company's debts except to the limits of the subscribed shares.
- 2. A partnership limited by shares is a company whose shares consist of one share or more owned by one joint partner or more and shares of equal value to be subscribed by one shareholder or more, and they can be traded in in the manner provided by law. A joint partner has unlimited liability, but a shareholding partner is only liable for the value of the shares in which he subscribed.
- 3. A limited liability company is a company whose number of partners is not more than fifty and not less than two. Each one of them is liablefor the amount of his shares, and the company's capital may not be less than EL 50,000.
The Law has encouraged investors to carry on their commercial activity through these companies by allowing foreigners to own shares without condition or restriction, except in the case of shareholding companies which are incorporated by subscription, and which is limited to Egyptians only.
The amendments to the provisions of this Law have facilitated the incorporation procedures of these companies. Law No. 3 for 1998 laid down the incorporation method through notification, i. e. the founders or their deputies notify the Companies Administration of the incorporation of a company by using the forms prepared for this purpose, provided that the notification is accompanied with the necessary documents.
If the Companies Administration does not object to the company's incorporation within ten days as from the date of its notification of the company's incorporation, the company's memorandum of association shall be published in the companies gazette accompanied by the number of registration in the commercial register and its date.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
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