The Minister of Trade and Industry, His Excellency Mr. Fahim Bin Sultan Al-Kasimi, issued the decree No. 67 for 1998 stating that registration fees have to be paid upon filing for all new applications.
This decree is also effective on already filed applications, whereby the applicants will have to pay within 30 days of being notified of the same.
In view of the large number of applications filed within a short period of time, and due to the high officials fees involved, AGIP Regional Office will be unable to attend to the filing of new applications without an advanced payment.
Kindly contact our Regional Office or United Arab Emirates Office for more details. Change in Telephone and Telefax Numbers in WEST BANK
Our telephone and telefax numbers in the West Bank will be changed as of August 4th 1998. The new numbers will be as follows :
Telephone: (972-2) 295 48 48 Telefax: (972-2) 295 48 49
Book on Intellectual Property Lawsuits in the ARAB WORLD
A large number of court decisions relating to intellectual property lawsuits in the Arab World have been compiled together in one volume. The reference work is expected to be more than 1250 pages and is presently being reviewed by Abu-Ghazaleh Legal Services (ABLE). It will be translated into English, so that there will be one volume in English and one in Arabic.
IGOR BILARDO
We would like to extend our sincerest condolences to the family of Mr. Igor Bilardo, of Racheli & Co., who passed away on the 24th of June after a tragic motorcycle accident. Igor was in the prime of his life and was suddenly taken away at the age of 33. His love for life and captivating personality will be sorely missed by all who knew him. We could always count on Igor's joyfulness and charm to help us through the routine of everyday life. We extend our support to his family as they come to terms with this dreadful loss. Those of us who knew him as a friend will mourn him deeply.
Igor Bilardo...a good friend and colleague.
We shall miss you.
Luay Abu-Ghazaleh
GCC Patent Office issues Registration Requirements
The Patent Office Director of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), His Excellency Mr. Mohammed Bin Ali Al-Rashed, has confirmed that it will soon be possible to file GCC patents in its office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The office has not yet started receiving applications, as it wishes to provide applicants with sufficient time to prepare for submitting applications and filling in application forms with the full information.
Protection of a GCC patent will extend to member countries of the GCC, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The following are the requirements for filing patent applications. These may be provisionally filed with the English text of the specification and claims, provided that all formal legalized documents are submitted within 90 days from the filing date:
1. Power of attorney executed by the applicant, and duly notarized and legalized up to the consulate of any GCC country.
2. A certified copy of the certificate of incorporation and/or an extract of the entry of the applicant company in the commercial register duly notarized and legalized up to the consulate of any GCC country.
3. A deed of assignment executed by the inventor(s), assigning the patent rights to the applicant. The document should be notarized and legalized up to the consulate of any GCC country.
4. Priority document duly notarized and legalized as for the power Of attorney, together with its Arabic translation. If the document is not in English, both English and Arabic translations are to be submitted.
5. Two copies of the specification and claims in English and Arabic, prepared strictly in the following order:
- Title of invention
- Field of invention
- Prior art or background of the invention
- Disclosure of the invention
- Brief description of the drawings
- Full description of the invention (detailing the methods to execute the invention, its industrial application, preferably with examples, statistics , etc.)
- Claims
- Drawings, if any
- Summary of the invention
- Abstract of the invention
6.The application form and the Arabic text of the specification and claims on a diskette using MS Word 97 (IBM) program.
Kindly contact our Saudi Arabia Office on telefax No. 966-1-465-2713 for further information and our charges.
The International Federation of Musicians :
A Voice for Musicians
In October 1998, the International Federation of Musicians (FIM), will celebrate in Switzerland, its mother country, its first 50 years of existance. Since its foundation, in 1948, FIM has been the body representing the union of musicians on an international scale.
Over the years, FIM has provided unfailing support to musicians whenever their rights have been threatened or in any way infringed upon. It is now counting 50 unions, and is currently affiliating new members from Africa and Latin America.
As a non-governmental organisation, FIM has a permanent relationship with major inter-governmental organisations such as UNESCO, International Labour Office,United Nations, Council of Europe and the European Union (European Commission and European Parliament).
This status enables FIM to participate in crucial negotiations on the protection of performers and to make the voice of musicians heard, thanks to its expertise in the fields of both intellecutal property and social rights. As an example, FIM played a very active part in the adoption, on the 21st December 1996, of the new WIPO Treaty on the protection of performers in the audiovisual field and is currently in negotiation on a new European Directive on intellectual property rights in the information society.
For further information on FIM, please contact Mr. John Morton (President) or Mr. Jean Vincent (General Secretary) of FIM at either of the following numbers :
Tel : (33-1) 45 26 31 23 Fax : (33-1) 45 26 31 57
Contributed by the International Federation of Musicians.
Seminar on Copyrights in Palestine.
The Arab Society for the Protection of Intellectual Property (ASPIP) participated in a seminar which was recently held in Ramallah, entitled "Copyrights in Palestine". The seminar was organised by the Palestinian Writers Union in cooperation with the Norwegian Writers Union and Kobiner Intellectual Property Institution in Norway, and was sponsored by His Excellency the Minister of Culture and Information, Mr. Yasser Abed-Rabbuh.
ASPIP was represented by Mr. Naief Hijazi who submitted a work paper entitled "Legal Status of Copyrights in Palestine". In this paper he stated the need for enacting a modern law for the protection of artistic works, which should be in conformity with the international standards and agreements, to replace the Ottoman and British laws which are still in force in the West Bank and Gaza Strip until now. Mr. Hijazi reviewed the political phases which
Palestine has undergone which left their prints on the legal conditions. He also referred to the violations which the authors were subjected to during the British Mandate and the Israeli military rule.
During the preparation of recommendations, ASPIP representatives expressed readiness to provide advice to the parties concerned in Palestine and participate in preparing the draft law and the implementing regulations, and assist in the training of employees.
Expected Coopertion between WIPO and ASPIP
ASPIP Manager, Mr. Naief Hijazi met Mr. Vladimir Yasseifov, Assistant Manager of Human resources Development Division at WIPO, who recently visited Jordan at the Invitation of the Higher Council for Science and Technology, to discuss the issue of establishing a centre for the protection of inventors and assisting them in investing their inventions. The methods of supporting connections and cooperation between WIPO and ASPIP were discussed. It was proposed that such connections and cooperation should start in the form of training and education in the field of intellectual property. Mr. Vladimir Yosseifov promised to propose a project to activate this cooperation.
ECTA 17th Annual Conference
The European Communities Trade Mark Association held its 17th Annual Conference in June. This year's Conference was based around Oppositions. It also covered the question of Internet Domain Names and the Directive on Comparitive Advertising.
Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property (AGIP)was represented at the conference by Mr. Luay Abu-Ghazaleh, Vice-President of AGIP. in brief from international office Guinea Bissau.
The Republic of Guinea Bissau filed its deed of adhesion to the Bangui Agreement on May 8, 1998. According to law, the Republic of Guinea Bissau will be a new member of A.I.P.O (OAPI) as from July 8, 1998.
From this date, all applications filed at the A.I.P.O will be valid for Guinea Bissau. The board of A.I.P.O. has issued provisions in order to extend previous OAPI rights to Guinea Bissau.
According to these provisions it will be possible to extend any applications filed at the A.I.P.O. before July 8, 1998 to Guinea Bissau subject to the payment of appropriate taxes. At this time there is no delay for such extension procedure.
Malaysia
On March 12, 1998 the Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs officially opened the Intellectual Property Training Centre (IPTC) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The training centre is seen as the first step towards establishing a National Institute for Intellectual Property in Malaysia which is hoped to be the centre for an eventual Institute of Training for member States of ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations).
IPTC has already completed its first training course for candidates taking the Examination for Patents Agents this year.
Investing in the Middle-East
In the the next three issues of the Bulletin we shall be making a comparison of the investment requirements in three Arab countries, which at present are making changes in the laws governing investment in order to attract both local and foreign investment into their economies. This month the Bulletin will tackle Lebanon. Egypt and Jordan will be covered over the next two months.
Part One : LEBANON
Since the end of the civil war, Lebanon has been in need of large amounts of investment in order to re-build the country. It has, therefore, followed a policy of encouraging investment and providing a climate for attracting foreign capital. Lebanon has needed to take certain steps in order to realise this objective, among which was Lebanon becoming a member of the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes and also the removal of all restrictions on the transfer of funds to and from an investor.
Following is an outline of the amendments made by Lebanon with regards to investment :
The first concern was dealing with companies which are governed by two seperate types of rule. The first type is called the General Rules or the Law of Oligations and Contracts. The second type is called Special Rules or the Law of Trade. Following are the most important types of companies in Lebanon :
1. General Partnership which consists of two partners or more. They are all jointly liable for a company's debts, even to the extent of their private properties.
2. Limited partnership in which the partners consist of two types : joint partners who have the right of management, and limited partners whose liability is limited only to their shares.
3. Limited liability company which consists of 3-20 partners and its capital is not less than LL 5 million fully paid up upon incorporation. Each partner's liability is limited to his share in the company.
4. Holding companies which are considered among the companies which foreign investors place a special importance because they enjoy a tax exemption on their profits and in relation to their objectives being limited to the following :
- a) Purchase of shares or participation in foreign companies or other local
- b) companies according to the Lebanese law.
- b) Acquisition of movable and immovable properties. With respect to foreigners, the conditions required for their acquisition of real estate should be observed.
- c) Acquisition of patents of invention and leasing them to institutions in Lebanon and abroad.
- d) Granting of loans to companies in which they have shares. It is stipulated that these types of companies should not own more than 40% in more than two companies carrying out activities in Lebanon in the same field of business.
5. Closed company which is similar to a public shareholding company in Jordan, but it consists of three persons at least. Subscription in it may be made in one lot or the founders may invite the general assembly for*subscription. The minimum capital of these companies is not less than LL 30 million which should be fully subscribed upon incorporation. The minimum value of a share should not be less than LL 1000. The shareholders are liable for company's debts to the amount of their shares only. Incorporation of these companies necessitates a prior licensing from the administrative authorities.
6.Companies whose activity is limited to outside Lebanon (off-shore). These are entities which take the form of companies and their activity is limited to the following:
- a) Negotiating and signing of contracts and agreements for operations and deals which will be carried on outside Lebanon, and are related to goods and products abroad or in the free customs zone.
- b)Using facilities available in the free customs zone for storing necessary imported goods for the purpose of their re-import.
- c)Consulting and research services for making benefit outside of Lebanon. Such
- companies are exempted from tax and pay a lump sum tax of LL1 million. These companies are prohibited from operating in the fields of industry, banking and insurance. It is stipulated that the board of directors should have two Lebanese persons at least.
7.Foreign companies which are registered in the commercial register. They are foreign institutions which have branches or liaison offices in Lebanon. The Lebanese law prohibited the latter from carrying on any commercial activity. The Lebanese law fixed the minimum capital of foreign banks, and stipulated obtaining the approval of the competent authorities.
Lastly, in some cases, companies should observe the conditions of special regulations before they are registered. In principle, there are stipulations that the approval of official competent parties should be obtained, or the country of the foreign investor allows Lebanese to invest in it, and, in some countries, Lebanese investors are allowed full ownership or a share of the capital, such as the acquisition of ships.
The biggest advantage provided by the Lebanese tax system, in addition to flexibility, is that it imposes tax on income according to its source and type and not according to the total of income, in accordance with annual taxation and regional taxation, and avoiding double taxation. Following are the most important tax categories and their advantages :
1. Tax on profits of vocations. Such tax differs according to the size and legal form of the institution as follows :
- a) Individual tax : a vocation's profit is considered to be personal income of the owner and is subject to progressive tax.
- b) Partnerships in which income is divided among the partners according to the share of each one of them. Accordingly, natural persons are subject to taxation.
- c) Corporations in which the company's profits and dividends are subject to taxation.
Types of Taxation :
1. Corporations, which include closed companies, limited liability companies and joint stock companies, are subject to taxation at the rate of 10% of the taxable income. Tax will be reduced to half its rate if the source of profits is the construction industry, housing units and their sale. The rule is that foreign companies are subject to the same rate of taxation applicable to Lebanese companies.
2. Progressive tax table is as follows :
- Tax due on the first LL 500,000 3%
- Tax due on income in excess of LL 7,500,000 5%
- Tax due on income in excess of LL 18,750,000 7%
- Tax due on income exceeding LL 37,500,000 10%
(Exchange Rate : USD 1 - LL 1025)
Kindly contact our Regional Office in Jordan for further information on investing in Lebanon.
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.
OTHER OFFICES
Algeria Bahrain Egypt Iraq Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Libya Morocco Oman Palestinian National Authority Qatar Saudi Arabia Syria The Sudan Tunisia United Arab Emirates Yemen