Articles 23-24-25 of the Patent and Designs Law as recently amended state out that: If the owner of a patent or a utility certificate have not used the invention or have used it in an insufficient manner, any interested party may apply for a compulsory licence pursuant to the procedures indicated in article (29) of the law herein, according to the following conditions: - the lapse of at least three years after granting the patent; - the applicant for licensing should prove that he exerted, within a reasonable period of time, efforts for obtaining a licence from the patent owner with a reasonable compensation and under reasonable commercial conditions; - the licence shall be non-exclusive; - the licence should be basically for the purpose of fulfilling the demands of the local market; - the licensing decision should determine the scope and period of licensing pursuant to the purpose for which it was granted; - if the invention is related to semiconductors technology the licensing should only be granted for public and non-commercial use or to remedy a practice determined after Judicial or administrative process to be anti-competitive; - the granting of a compulsory licence shall not preclude granting of other compulsory licences. The competent court shall decide pursuant to the request of the interested parties, either to prevent the owner of the letters patent or the utility certificate, from using the invention itself, or otherwise grant him other licences for using thereof; - the competent court may not disregard the first and second item if the compulsory licence was granted as a result of public emergency, the dire need of the public for such, or for public and non-commercial uses; - a compulsory licence for exploiting the patent may be issued if the invention is important for the public interest; - pursuant to a decree by the Minister, a compulsory licence for exploiting the patent or utility certificate protected invention may be issued if the invention is important for the public interest; - the licensee shall have the right to use the civil and penal rights of the owner of the patent or the utility certificate to protect or to use the invention if such owner had omitted such use in spite of notifying or informing him of any illegal action; - article 25 of the above-mentioned Law provides that if it is impossible to use an invention protected by a patent or a utility certificate in the United Arab Emirates without violating rights derived from a patent or a utility certificate granted by virtue of a previous application, then it is permissible to grant the owner of the letters patent or the utility certificate a compulsory licence according to the conditions set forth in article (28) of such law to the degree necessary to use his invention if such invention serves industrial purposes different from such purposes related to the invention of the former patent or utility certificate or represents a marked technical advance in relation thereto; - if the two inventions serve the same industrial purpose, the compulsory licence shall be granted to the subsequent patent or utility certificate while keeping the right for the owner of the former patent or utility certificate to obtain a licence for the subsequent patent or utility certificate, if he applies for such; - the two parties may also agree in writing between them and notify the Administration of their agreement to record it in the related register. Article 29 of the same Law states out the following: - the application for the compulsory licence shall be submitted to the competent court in the form of an action filed against the owner of the patent or utility certificate, and the Administration shall be informed to arrange for the attendance of an administration representative. The court may grant the two parties a period of time it determines for them to come to an agreement and it is permissible to extend the period if the court recognizes a reason to do so. Upon the termination of the period, the court shall examine the application for either rejecting or granting the compulsory licence. If granted the court shall define the conditions and the scope thereof and determine the compensation for the owner of the patent or the utility certificate according to the provision of article (23) of such act, and the judgment shall be served to the other party and to the Administration to register it in the related register and to be published in the official gazette after paying the fixed fee, and the judgment shall have no impact concerning the third party except from the date of publication.

The current Law does not indicate the notion of anti-competitive practices as referred to in Article 31(k) of the TRIPS Agreement. However the draft amendment indicates that if the invention is related to semiconductors technology, the licensing should only be granted for public and non-commercial use or to remedy a practice determined after Judicial or administrative process to be anti-competitive. The notion of anti-competitive practices is indicated in various laws such as the Industrial Law and the Anti-fraud and Defraud Law.

The 1992 Patent and Industrial Design Law in its Article 35 provides for judicial review of the legal validity of any decision by administrative authorities relating to the compulsory licence.

In defending its position, the owner of the patent cannot introduce imported product as a valid ground. It does not present a legitimate reason for avoiding compulsory licensing if one or more of the reasons referred to in the above-mentioned Article 23 (Patent Law) are meet.

The Patent and Designs Law does not provide for any provision aimed at discriminating patents on the basis of the place of invention, the field of technology and whether the products are imported or locally produced. The approved amendment of the Article 23 of the Patent and Designs Law doesn’t stipulate any more that the importation of the product is not considered legal justification for the owner to avoid compulsory licence. Therefore, the Patent law related provisions are now in conformity with Article 27 and 31 of the TRIPS Agreement.

The term of patent protection is 15 years renewable for 5 additional years in accordance with the current law. The draft amendment will provide a protection for 20 years as referred to in TRIPS Article 33.

The existing Patent and Designs Law No. 44 (1992) does not provide for the principle of the reversal of burden of proof in a process patent litigation. However, the Draft amendment envisages the introduction of this principle in order to conform to Article 34 of the TRIPS Agreement. The new Article provides that in case of litigation concerning process patent, the court shall have the authority to order the defendant to prove that the manufacturing process, which he has used, is different from the patented process protected by a patent.

The 1992 Patent and Industrial Design Law No. 44 (Articles 39-42) governs the protection of know-how. According to this Law, protection of undisclosed information related to the know-how should ensured through a contract concluded for this purpose. In all cases, the holder shall take the necessary steps to preserve the confidentiality of its information. The Civil Service Act prevents from any disclosure of information made by the public servant. Article 39 of the 1992 Patent and Industrial Design Law No. 44 indicates that know-how is protected against any unlawful use, disclosure or communications by third parties unless it has been published or made available to the public.

The 1992 Patent and Industrial Designs law No. 44 defines in its Article 1 "know-how" as the technical information, data or knowledge that result from professional experience and are applicable in practice. Article 39 states that know-how shall be protected against any unlawful use, disclosure or communication by third parties unless it has been published or made available to the public. The same Article states clearly that in order to enjoy protection, the owner of the know-how shall take the necessary steps to preserve the confidentiality of its elements. Article 42 of the above-mentioned Law provides for a provision ensuring that a third party will not be allowed to use disclose or communicate any element of know-how without consent of its owner. The same Article states that any of these acts shall be deemed an unlawful act, provided that the person committing the act was aware of the confidential nature of the know-how or could not have ignored such nature. Furthermore, the Bylaws of the 1992 Patent Law (The 1993 Decision No. 11 of the Ministerial Council) lays down procedures required to ensure the protection of know-how as well as its contracting aspects. As regards pharmaceutical products specifically, the Law No. 4 of 1983 related to pharmaceutical institutions and pharmacy profession and its Bylaws provide for establishment of a Committee in charge of pharmaceutical registration and pricing. All the confidential information submitted to it must be kept confidential, provided that it is confidential and the owner has undertaken the necessary steps to keep it confidential.

The three intellectual property rights-related laws provide for measures aimed at preventing violation of intellectual property rights. - the 1992 Trade Marks Law No.37 in its Chapter VI on Penalty (Articles 37-43); - the 1992 Copyright Law in its Chapter VIII (Articles 38-44) on Penalty; - the 1992 Patent and Design Law in its Chapter V on Preventive Measures, Offences and Penalty (Articles 58-61) lay down measures to prevent any infringement or unlawful act which violate rights of the owner of intellectual property.

These laws also provides for remedy measures like preventive seizure, confiscation, destruction of products and equipment as well as removing of the effects of the illegal acts and compensation.

The 1992 Patent Law in its Article 2 provides that the provisions of this Law shall not contravene any international convention or treaty to which the UAE is a party, and which governs the rights of the nationals of the contracting States as well as the rights of the persons who are treated as such. Foreigners to whom the preceding paragraph does not apply shall have the same rights as are the nationals under this law, provided that they have the nationality of a state which applies the reciprocity principle to the UAE.

The 1992 Copyrights Law, Articles 37-44, provides for preventive measures and penalty including confiscation, the closing of the institution violating copyright and prison measures and compensation. The draft amendment will provide more detailed measures to enforce copyrights as referred to in the TRIPS Agreement. The obligations arising from Article 9 of the TRIPS Agreement (Berne Convention Articles 1-21 except Article 6bis) will be met through the extension of the scope in terms of the various categories and subjects of copyright as well as the nature of the protection.

Computer programs are protected by the 1992 Copyright Law No. 40. Article 2 of this law mentions computer programs under the scope of protection. The draft amendment will introduce under the above-mentioned scope computer programs and their applications as well as compilations of data.

The rental right is available under the existing law through the right of free exploitation provided for in the Article 14 of the 1992 Copyright Law. The draft amendment will introduce clearly the exclusive rights to exploit, under the rental right, literary works, including computer programs and cinematography work.

The term of protection of copyright other than photography work is determined by the period of life of the owner and 25 years after he dead. The draft amendment will extend this period to 50 years.

The 1992 Copyrights and Neighboring rights law No. 40 law includes performances among protected works. To conform to the TRIPS Agreement, the amendment to this law envisages to precise the rights of performers who shall enjoy the following economic rights: - The right to transmit their unfixed performance and communicating it to the public; - The right to fix their performance on a phonogram; - The right to reproduce their fixed performance on a phonogram. In this respect, the amendment will considers prohibited any fixation of such live performance on a phonogram for direct or indirect commercial revenue, rental, transmission or availability to the public on any medium by third person without authorization of the right holder. As far as the term of the protection is concerned, the law provides for a period of fifty years protection to be calculated from the beginning of the next calendar year in which the performance was accomplished. If the performance was fixed in a phonogram, the period would be calculated from the end of the year in which the fixation was made.

The amendment to the 1992 Copyright law will provide for the protection of the rights of producers of phonograms. It will state that the producers of phonograms shall enjoy the following rights: - The right to prohibit any exploitation of their phonograms by any means without their authorization. The law prohibits copying, rental, broadcasting, re-broadcasting, availability to the public by third parties. - The right to disseminate their recordings via wire, wireless, computer or other means. The term of the protection will be fifty calendar years calculated from the beginning of the next year in which the publication of the phonogram was done or the year in which the phonogram was fixed if it was not published.

The 1992 Trademarks Law No. 37 considers as trademark the following: Names, words, signatures, letters, numbers, drawings, symbols, addresses, hallmarks, stamps, pictures, vignettes, notices, packages or any other mark or combination of marks having a distinctive form and used or meant to be used- in distinguishing goods or products of whatever origin, or in showing that the goods or products are owned by the owner of the trademark because he manufactured it or selected it or traded in it, or rendered a service under it. A sound shall be considered part of the trademark if it was accompanying it.

The 1992 Trademarks Law No. 37 Article 5 provides that the Ministry of Economy and Commerce shall keep a register to be called "Trademarks Register" which shall be registered all trademarks, names and addresses of their owners, type of their activity, description of their goods or products or services and any assignment or transfer of ownership or change of license to use or any other amendments. The Law stipulates that every person may apply for a true copy of the contents of the said register upon payment of the prescribed fees. Article 6 of the same law states that the following persons shall have the right to register their trademarks: - UAE natural and moral persons who exercise any commercial, industrial, handicraft or services activity. - Non-UAE natural or moral persons who exercise any commercial, industrial, handicraft or services activity in the UAE. - Non-UAE natural or moral persons who exercise any commercial, industrial, handicraft or services activity in any country which grant the UAE reciprocal treatment. - Public moral persons. Articles 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 of the 1992 Trademarks law No. 37 as well as the 1993 Ministerial Decision No. 6 lay down detailed conditions and procedures governing registration of trademarks in the UAE. Article 7 states that each person desiring to use a trademark to distinguish any goods or products or services may apply for registering it. Article 17 of the 1992 Trademarks law No. 37 considers the person who has a trademark registered in his name its exclusive owner. Article 20 provides for the owner's right to remove the trademark from the register. It provides also that if the owner of the mark has granted, by contract, to a third person a license to use the mark, the said mark may not be removed from the register except upon written consent of the licensee unless the licensee expressly renounces his right in the license agreement. Articles 27-28 and 29 lay down the holder’s right of transferring the ownership of a trademark and the conditions under which the transfer, levying a charge or seizure related to a trademark are made. Articles 30-31-32-33 and 34 organize the license contracting, which is stated by the law as a right of the trademark holder. Articles 37 defines the penalties with regard to the counterfeiting, imitating, misleading the public, fraudulent use of registered trademark.