The draft Law does not provide for additional protection for patented invention after the lapse of 20 years which is counted from the filing date (Article 14 of the draft Law on Patents and Utility Models).

This is accounted for by providing the following in the draft Law: Article 42 Without prejudice to the provisions of any agreement or treaty to which the State of Bahrain is party, patents granted in accordance with existing Laws and Regulations prior to the date of entry into force of this Law shall enjoy protection, and be considered as though they are registered under this Law. The elapsed period of protection shall be deducted from the term of protection provided for under this Law and its Regulations. Article 43 The provisions of this Law shall apply to any application filed prior to the entry into force of this Law and which has not been granted a patent. The applicant may amend his application in accordance with the provisions of this Law. Article 46 Ministers shall, each within its own capacity, implement this Law upon its publication in the Official Gazette.

Article 12 of the draft Law on Patents and utility Models provides the following: "With due regards to the defendant's right to protect his industrial and commercial secrets, the civil court may, in a claim relating to the exploitation of a patented industrial process used without the consent of its owner, order the defendant to prove that the process used to obtain an identical product is different from the patented process. This is provided that the plaintiff has been unable to identify the process actually used despite reasonable efforts and provided the court believes it is likely that the identical product was made using the protected process."

The proposed draft Law on Layout Design of Integrated Circuits will provide protection to Topographies of Integrated Circuits. The draft Law incorporates the provisions of Articles 35 to 38 of the TRIPS Agreement.

Article 6 of the draft Law on Layout Designs of Integrated Circuits provides: "The owner of the layout-design shall have the exclusive right to exploit it for commercial purposes. Third parties may not reproduce, whether by incorporation in an integrated circuit or otherwise, the protected layout-design in its entirety or any new part thereof; nor import, sell or otherwise distribute for commercial purposes a layout-design or an integrated circuit in which a layout-design is incorporated, without the authorization of the right holder. Notwithstanding, where any of the acts referred to in Paragraph (a) are performed by a person who had no knowledge nor reasonable ground to know, when performing such act, that the integrated circuit or article contains a protected layout-design, he may after being notified ,by the right holder with registered mail with recorded delivery , that the integrated circuit or article contains a protected layout-design, dispose of the stock of articles in his possession or that he has ordered but shall in either cases be liable to pay a fair compensation to the right holder."

Please refer to the response to question 40 above.

Article 8 of the draft law on the Protection of Layout Design of Integrated Circuits provides that the term of protection is 10 years counted from the date of filing an application for registration in the State of Bahrain or from the date of its first commercial exploitation in the State of Bahrain or abroad, whichever expires earlier, but in all cases the term of protection shall expire 15 years after the creation of the layout design.

A defined period for protection is prescribed only with respect to undisclosed tests or data the origination of which involves a considerable effort, and which have been submitted to the competent authorities for the purpose of obtaining approval for marketing of pharmaceutical or of agricultural chemical products which utilise new chemical entities. Article 2 of the draft Law on the Protection of Trade Secrets provides that the competent authorities which receive such tests or data shall protect them against disclosure as from the date they are received until they are no longer secret, and shall prohibit their unfair commercial use by preventing any third party not having the consent of the person who submitted them from relying on such data or tests in the marketing of similar drugs or products for 5 years following the date of marketing approval of the drugs or products in Bahrain.

Article 1 of the draft Law on the Protection of Trade Secrets provides that Trade Secrets include: a) information considered secret if it, as a body or in its precise components, is unknown or not available among or readily accessible to persons who normally deal with such kind of information. b) information that has commercial value because it is secret. c) information that has been subject to reasonable steps under the circumstances by the person lawful in control of the information to keep it secret.

Please see the response to question 43.

Please refer to Bahrain's responses to questions 5 and 24 of the Checklist of Issues on Enforcement (document IP/N/6/BHR/1).

Final administrative decisions may be appealed to the court. The mechanism provides that any person with an interest may petition the Minister to object to any administrative decision within 30 days from his knowledge of the decision. The petition is to be decided upon within 30 days and the petitioner is to be advised of the Minister's ruling within 30 days thereafter. After the lapse of 60 days without the petitioner being notified of a ruling, the petition is considered implicitly rejected. A rejection of the petition may be the subject of a challenge to the Supreme Court within 60 days after the petitioner is notified of the decision or the petition is considered implicitly rejected. The legal basis are the following: a) Patents and Utility Models: Article 36 b) Geographical Indications: Article 11 c) Industrial Designs: Article 17 d) Layout-Designs of Integrated Circuits: Article 16 e) Protection of Breeder of New Varieties of Plants: Article 32 f) Trademarks: Article 4

Please refer to Bahrain's responses to questions 3 and 4 of the Checklist of Issues on Enforcement (document IP/N/6/BHR/1).

The relevant provisions are the following Articles in the respective draft Laws Copyright and Neighbouring Rights: Article 44 Patents and Utility Models: Article 40 Trade Marks: Article 34 Geographical Indicators: Article 11 Protection of Trade Secrets: Article 6 Industrial Designs: Article 18 Layout-Designs of Integrated Circuits: Article 17 Protection of Breeders of New Varieties of Plants: Article 26

As infringement is considered a tort, any party who incurs loss or suffers damage as a result is entitled to damages. The basis for the claim is the relevant IPR Law and Article 158 of the Civil Code which provides: "Every injurious act which causes damage or loss shall render the person by whom it has been committed to be liable for damages."

Article 192 of the Civil and Commercial Procedural Law provides that: "When issuing the final verdict on the litigation before it, the Court shall at its own instance rule on the costs of the case. The court shall award costs of the case, including attorney's fees, to be paid by the litigant who has lost the verdict. If the verdict goes against more than one litigant, the court shall order that costs be shared among them in proportions to the interest of each one in the case as assessed by the court. They shall not be bound by joint liability in this respect unless they were held to be jointly liable in the obligation which has been judged upon."

Please refer to Bahrain's responses to questions 15 and 24 of the Checklist of Issues on Enforcement (document IP/N/6/BHR/1).

Article 198 of the Civil and Commercial Procedural Law provides that "if the intention of the litigation was merely malice compensation may be awarded against the person thus intending". In addition, all IPR draft Laws provide that the court has the authority to order a provisional measure only upon the provision of a security bond by the party requesting such a measure. Such security is a deterrent to prevent the abuse of provisional measures and may be used to compensate defendants unlawfully enjoined.

Please refer to Bahrain's responses to questions 10 to 12 of the Checklist of Issues on Enforcement (document IP/N/6/BHR/1).

The General Directorate of Customs or alternatively the court.