RIYADH, 4 June — In a move to promote scientific research in the region, the patent office of the Gulf Cooperation Council has approved, for the first time, granting of patent rights to nine applicants for their products which have met requirements stipulated under the patent regulations.
“This granting of patents is the first since the GCC patent office was established in 1998,” said Muhammad Ali Al-Rasheed, director general of the office. He said the office would inform the patentees about the approval and ask them to pay the fees due within the legal time limit.
Al-Rasheed said the office would charge a fee of SR10,000 from each patentee. The fee is very low compared to the US where it is SR70,000. Once the patent is granted, the product can be manufactured and marketed on a commercial basis for a period of 20 years, he said.
He said if anyone has any objections to granting the patent right, he may file a complaint with the grievances committee within three months of the publication of the patent.
The office had short-listed 70 applications, culled from a total of 1,232. The selection was made after a careful review and examination of each application. Most of the applications were in the pharmaceutical and oil sectors.
Al-Rasheed said all formalities for granting the patent, including a technical scrutiny by a specialist committee, were completed in less than two years.
The office is currently working on several proposals for cooperation with major patent agencies around the world for added credibility. Al-Rasheed said he expects his office to receive more than 5,000 applications for patent rights over the next four years.
