203. Article Twenty of the GCC Economic Agreement states that "member States shall develop programs encouraging talented individuals and supporting innovation and invention; cooperate in the field of intellectual property and develop regulations and procedures ensuring protection of intellectual property rights; and coordinate their relevant policies towards other countries, regional blocs and international and regional organizations."
204. The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf started working to amend the Patent Law in the GCC States to comply with the national patent laws of the Member States as well as with international treaties. It established the "intellectual property training centre for the Gulf Cooperation Council" in the State of Kuwait which continuingly organizes training programmes in various fields of intellectual property for the benefit of Member States.
205. It has also been working on the adoption of the structure to coordinate activities between the Patent Office of the Gulf Cooperation Council and the patent offices of Member States. The structure includes patent policy, patent filing, patent examination, awareness and invention promotion, organizing joint activities, training and human resources, patent information, information technology, and international treaties and organizations.
206. The GCC of the Secretariat General, since October 2013 provides several activities on technical cooperation on TRIPS, including launching a project of electronic filing of patent applications; the project aims to facilitate the filing procedures for all applicants in general and for applicants from the Member States in particular. It also provides consultation and financial support for the "Gulf Inventors Campaign" which is organized by the "Federation of Gulf Cooperation Council Chambers". The campaign was aimed to support Gulf Cooperation Council inventors as well as to enhance innovation in the Member States. The GCC has also sponsored the participation of inventors from its Member States in some of national and International Exhibitions of Inventions.
207. In the area of training courses, the Gulf Cooperation Council Secretariat General Patent Office made a number of presentations and courses on various relevant topics for different beneficiaries, such as talented students in the research centre of the King Faisal specialist hospital in Saudi Arabia. This included a presentation on the role of the Patent Office of the Secretariat General in supporting innovation. It also organized other training courses in 2013 which were attended by a number of patent examiners from Saudi Arabia's Patent Office.
208. In addition to this, the Gulf Cooperation Council Intellectual Property Training Centre in the State of Kuwait organized during the year 2014 a number of training courses including courses on intellectual property and trademarks for fresh graduates, a course on formal and substantive examination of patent applications, as well as a course on copyright.
209. The above activities are only the beginning of an ambitious programme to enable the GCC countries to protect inventors' rights and their inventions. It requires continuous follow-up from all parties for the application of the regulations and of international laws followed in this regard and it's development as driven by the public interest.
