Government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has issued Federal Law No. (11) of 2021
Government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has issued Federal Law No. (11) of 2021 replacing the previous Industrial Property Law No. (31) of 2006 on Regulation and Protection of Industrial Property of Patents, Industrial Drawings and Designs.
The new law was published in the official gazette number (703 – Annex) on May 31, 2021 and will enter into force six months after the date of publication.
The new Law No (11) of 2021 will contain the following points:
- The utility certificate can be converted into a patent application by complying with the conditions set out by law’s executive regulations.
- Disclosure of information by the inventor or by a third party who obtained the information directly or indirectly from the inventor shall not affect the obtaining of a patent if this occurred within (12) months before the date of filing the application.
- Integrated Circuit Layout Designs can be filed in the UAE and the term of protection is (10) years.
- Accelerated examination ( PPH) may be requested by the applicants, The Ministry may examine a particular group of the urgent applications of the patents or the utility certificates before other applications, upon the request of the applicants thereof regardless of the application filing date or the examination request date, provided that this shall not cause prejudice to the applications having priority according to the standards and conditions specified under the executive regulation of this Law
- With regards to the industrial design, it is considered new only when it has not been disclosed to the public, prior to the filing date of the application, whether by publication, use, or any other method. The new law increased the period of protection for the industrial design to be (20) years instead of 10 years , starting from the date of submission of the application , with noting that the priority period is (6) months from the first date filing
- The rights authorized by the patent, or the utility certificate shall not be applicable to the following:
- Merger of two or more medicines for the purpose of medical treatment by a licensed pharmacist.
The executive regulations of this law will be issued by the Council of Ministers within a period of six months from the date of publication of this law. The regulations and decisions issued in implementation of the provisions of Federal Law No. (31) of 2006 shall continue until the necessary decisions are issued to implement the provisions of the new law, but in a manner that does not conflict with the provisions of the new law.
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