Intellectual Property Protection in the Middle East

 

I had to research an issue for a client related to intellectual property (IP) in the Middle East / North Africa (MENA) region earlier this week.  Coincidentally, Sunday, April 26 was World Intellectual Property Day.  Furthermore, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has made some announcements regarding both its IP laws as well as those of the greater Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Customs.  As such, I thought it would be appropriate to discuss this issue in the context of MENA, and what it all means.  I must note, however, that I am not an IP lawyer, so bear with me!

IP Protection in Developing Countries

Traditionally, intellectual property (most commonly understood to consist of mainly patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets) has not been as well respected (or protected) in developing countries as it has been in the industrialized world.  Why? While there are many benefits to respecting IP rights, there are arguably certain disadvantages as well, particularly for developing countries which tend to import much more IP than they produce, much less export.  While it is very cost-efficient in the long term for a country to honor IP rights as such protection facilitates more investment and innovation, some may in the short term feel that it to be to their benefit not to honor such rights.  In order to promote research, development, and innovation, many countries provide creators of IP with protections that gives them proprietary rights to make money off their work product for often generous time periods (e.g., 20 years).  Naturally, this can make IP works expensive for many and incentivize IP infringement (think cracked software, copied textbooks, and fake Louis Vuitton bags).

IP in the Middle East

The first notable movement towards some form of international convergence on intellectual property right was the 1883 Paris Convention on the Protection of Industrial Property (the “Paris Union”).  The MENA countries that are parties to the Paris Union are Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, UAE, and Yemen.

The General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) / World Trade Organization (WTO) Uruguay Rounds of 1986-1994 resulted in the creation of the World Trade Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).  TRIPS covers patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, industrial designs, and certain circuit schematics. It provides certain benchmark protections of WTO members to each others’ IP, including national treatment (basically, not differentiating between one’s own citizens and others in the field of IP).  However, the only MENA members of the WTO as of now are Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the UAE.

The Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks (1891) and Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement (1989) (collectively the “Madrid Union”) provides a simplified process for international trademark and servicemark protection and updating.  Within MENA, only Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Morocco, Oman, Syria, and Turkey are signatories to these conventions.

Clearly, there are gaps in terms of MENA’s harmonization of its IP laws with those of the greater international community.

IP Protection in the GCC and UAE: Clamping Down

As many readers surely know, the GCC has been in recent years moving towards a customs and monetary union.  In line with this, intellectual property is becoming serious business in the Persian Gulf. 

The GCC Patents Office is located in Riyadh and provides a clearing house for registering patents throughout the GCC.  GCC countries also have competent national bodies tasked with managing IP rights.  In the UAE, IP law is covered by Federal Law No. 17 of 2002, which was drafted in an effort to harmonize with TRIPS (Trademarks are covered by Law No. 27 of 1992, amended by Law No. 8 of 2002). In March of this year, the UAE began a month-long campaign against the use of unlicensed software by commercial entities.

Notably, the UAE proposed this week to revise the GCC Customs Law to include better, more specific provisions dealing with intellectual property rights.  This is particularly notable as Gulf ports, particularly those in the UAE, are reshipment points for MENA, the South Asian subcontinent and Central Asia, as well as beyond.

Additionally, the UAE announced it has established a special committee to revise its own intellectual property laws as well, as stated in this article in Emirates Business 24-7.   This effort is aimed at better addressing patent issues in more cutting edge technologies.  Specifically, the government aims to cover biological agents and integrated circuits.  The UAE government may also address some disparities between UAE and GCC patent registration processes, namely the grace period, which is non-existent in the Emirates.

The Future

Intellectual Property rights will continue to increase in importance throughout MENA as development spreads and increases in the region.  This will be furthered by the addition of more MENA states into international organizations such as the WTO.  The case for intellectual property will also increase as the region’s role as a producer of IP increases (especially through industrial development, particularly in countries like Turkey, Iran, Qatar, and the UAE, and as the MENA region’s role as a reshipment point expands). The GCC may very likely take the lead, not so much as a producer of IP but rather given its role as a technology center for the region. Economic development, as well as increasing wealth and consumer sophistication will certainly help fuel this as well.