The 1992 Trademarks law does not provide for any provision imposing unjustifiably requirements, which encumber the trademark. The only requirements for the registration of trademarks regarding form and use are stated out in Article 3, which prohibits the registration of some marks such as public emblems, flags, and other symbols relating to countries or international organizations unless authorized by them. Registration of marks violating public morals or public order is prohibited as well.

The Trademarks law does not provide for any provision, which laying down the compulsory licensing of trademarks. Articles 30, 31, 32 and 34, which organize trademarks licensing are fully in conformity with Article 21 of the TRIPS Agreement in the sense that they do not impose the compulsory licensing of trademarks. Article 27 of the same law conforms also with Article 21 of the Agreement while stating that transfer of the ownership of a trademark may be effected with or without the business to which the trademark belongs.

Geographical indications are protected through the 1992 Trade Marks Law No 37. All the provisions contained in this law apply to geographical indications. Paragraphs 6 and 9 of Article 3 exclude from the registration (protection) geographical indications, which have the purpose to mislead the public on the veritable origin of the product or services or which contain false indications as to the origin or source of the products or services.

Geographical Indications related to the wine and spirituous are not registered in the United Arab Emirates in pursuance of the 1992 Trade Marks Law Article 3 paragraph 2, which states that any mark which violates public morality or is contrary to public order shall not be registered as trademark.

The industrial design must be recorded in the special Register kept by the Ministry of Industry and Finance (the Directorate). The registration application shall be filled and examined according to the procedure, and on payment of the fees, determined by the related Decree. The procedures mentioned above could be summarised in presenting an application which should be considered on the basis of prescribed requirements indicated in the 1992 Patent and Industrial Design Law No. 44 (Article 51) and 1993 related Decree No. 11 (Articles 45-49). The requirements are of formal and objective nature, providing that applicant have a right to use appeal procedures, be they administrative or judicial if needed (Patent and Industrial Design Law, Article 47). The nature of protection provided for industrial designs is reflected in Article 49 of the 1992 Patent and Industrial Design Law which accord to the holder the right of using the design in the making of any product, importing any product related to the industrial design, or processing such a product for the purpose of offering it for sale or selling it.

There is no specific provisions for textile designs. The 1992 Patent and Industrial Design Law apply to textiles industrial designs.

The 1992 Patent and Design Law provides for the protection of patent which is granted for any new invention that is the result of an innovative idea or an innovative improvement on a patented invention whether in relation to new industrial product, to industrial processes or methods or to the applications of known industrial processes or methods (Article 4 of the 1992 Patent and Design Law No. 44). The draft amendment, when adopted, will extend the coverage of the protection of innovations in all fields of technology, including agriculture, hunting, fishing, handicrafts and services. The 1992 Patent Law in its current form excludes from that protection the product in the field of chemical invention in foodstuffs and pharmaceutical compositions (Article 6 of the 1992 Patent Law). Therefore the draft amendment will enable the UAE to extend the protection to these fields, regarding both product and method of processing. With the adoption of the above-mentioned amendment, the exceptions will be presented as follows: (i) plant and animal research, or biological processes for the production of plants or animals, with the exception of microbiological processes and products; (ii) scientific principles and discoveries; (iii) diagnostic, therapeutic and surgical methods for the treatment of human or animals; (iv) in addition to inventions related to national defence or which would be contrary to public order and morality.

The 1992 Patent Law, Article 15, provides the patent holder to prevent others from doing the following acts: (i) manufacturing, importing, offering for sale, selling, using or otherwise keeping for the purpose of selling or using the product; (ii) using the method and undertaking any of the acts mentioned in (i) related to a product obtained directly by such a method. To conform with Article 28 of the TRIPS Agreement, the draft amendment will precise the rights of the holders in using the invention, in addition to preventing others to use it as provided for in the existing law.

The 1992 Patent Law governs compulsory licences (Articles 23-33) Article 26 provides that a compulsory licence for the exploitation of an invention may only be granted once the person requesting it has supplied evidence that the owner of the invention has notified thereof, but it has not been possible to reach an agreement on equitable terms within a reasonable time. Article 23 determines in which cases compulsory licences are granted and provides that it can happen for one or more of the following reasons: (i) the invention covered by the patent is not being exploited; (ii) the exploitation of the invention is not sufficient to respond reasonably to the demand for the product; (iii) the exploitation has been suspended by the beneficiary for two consecutive years; (iv) the refusal of the owner of the patent to conclude a licence contract under fair terms has seriously impeded the development of industrial or commercial activities in the UAE. The draft amendment will provide measures to take into account the public interest and remedy measures to prevent anti-competitive practices. It will precise also the conditions of granting compulsory licences.

The 1992 Patent Law, Article 14, determines the term of protection in 15 years subject to a possible extension for 5 additional years. The draft amendment will modify this term by extending it to 20 years from the date of filling the application.

The 1992 Copyright and Neighboring Rights Law includes layouts and topography among the works protected in the United Arab Emirates against any unlawful use or aggression. The term of protection of author rights is determined by the period his life and 25 years after his death. The term of protection of copyrights and neighbouring rights will be determined, after introducing the amendments to the 1992 Copyrights law, as follows: • As regards the author rights, the term of protection is determined by the period of life of the owner and 25 years after his death. The draft amendment will extend this period to 50 years as referred to in the TRIPS Agreement. • The term of protection of the rights of the joint authors is determined by their period of life and 50 years begin from the date of the death of the last surviving author. • The term of protection of the authors of collective works except the authors of applied arts is 50 years begin from the date of the first publication. • The economic rights of the works published for the first time after the death of their author expire after fifty years starting the first day of the next calendar year of their first publications. • The term of protection of the rights of the authors of the applied artwork is 25 years from the date of their publication. • The term of protection of the rights of the performers is 50 years from the date of the Accomplishment of the work performed. 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 term of protection of the rights of the producers of phonograms is 50 years from the date of publication or fixation if it was not published. • The term of protection of the rights of the broadcasting organisations is 20 years from the next year to the year in which the first transmission of the program was made.

The 1992 Patent and Industrial Design Law No. 44 (Article 39-42) governs the protection of know-how. Within this Law, protection of undisclosed information related to the know-how is ensured through a contract concluded for this purpose. The Civil Service Act prevents from any disclosure of information made by public servants. In all cases, the holder shall take the necessary steps to preserve the confidentiality of its information. 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. And in order to enjoy protection, the holder of this information shall take the necessary steps to preserve the confidentiality of it.

See the response to question 22 above.

See the response to question 22 above.

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 provides for 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, stating 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 undertake the necessary steps to keep it confidential.

Article 11 of the 1992 Patent and Industrial Designs law provides that the application for registration may contain a declaration claiming the priority of an earlier application filed in a State party to a convention or treaty to which the UAE has acceded. In the area of drugs and pharmaceutical products marketing specifically, the law No. 4 of 1983 related to pharmaceutical institutions and pharmacy profession and its Bylaws impose, as perquisites for marketing such products: (i) The authorization of competent authorities to import the products. (Article 40) (ii) The registration of the products before marketing them (Article 65). The Bylaws of the above mentioned law which defines the procedures of the registration of pharmaceutical products require the disclosure of scientific and technical elements of the product before its marketing.

On March 27, the UAE engage very fruitful consultations with the US officials with the aim of exploring ways and means of enhancing protection of patented pharmaceutical. Following these consultations, the UAE made written commitments to provide comprehensive protection for US pharmaceuticals including extending data exclusivity protection. These commitments, which confirm the UAE obligations under the TRIPS Agreement, will be implemented on an MFN basis as stipulated by the Agreement.

The following three intellectual property nights-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 provide 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 Evidence law provides for an equitable and fair access to judicial procedures. The balance of the rights and obligations of both party’s claims and the opposing party is ensured. The basic principle of this law is that the claimant must provide evidence to substantiate his claim and the evidence must be relevant to the action. The court can, however, order the evidence be produced if it is under control of the opposing party. The court can also call on the party to question him regarding the changes or alterations made to the element of evidence.

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), and 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.