In addition to specific laws related to the protection of public health and nutrition, including the Anti-fraud and Defraud Law, Civil Law, the 1992 Patent and Design Law No. 44 in Section one on Patents and Utility Certificates (Article 6) stipulates that neither a patent nor a utility certificate shall be granted for the following: - plant or animal research, or biological processes for the production of plants or animals, with the exception of microbiological processes and products thereof, - chemical inventions related to foodstuffs, drugs or pharmaceuticals, unless such products are made by means of special chemical process, in which case protection shall extend only to the process and not to the products of the processes, - scientific principles and discoveries, - inventions related to national defense, - inventions, which, if disclosed or exploited, would be contrary to public policy and morality. It is to be noted however that, in order to be consistent with the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement, the draft amendment of the 1992 Patent and Design Law No. 44 will introduce new elements by eliminating the mention of the second above-mentioned sub-paragraph (ii) as exception from granting patent. In addition, the amendment will introduce diagnostic, therapeutic and surgical methods for the treatment of humans or animals among exceptions from granting patent as provided for in Article 27 of the TRIPS Agreement. Furthermore, Section two of the 1992 Patent Law provides for compulsory licences and the reasons of obtaining them in addition to the procedure stipulated in Article 29 under which they are granted. These provisions are also amended to bring the above-mentioned Law in conformity with Articles 30 and 31 of the TRIPS Agreement and to facilitate reading and understanding thereof. The new elements introduced through the amendment are mainly related to the non-exclusivity of compulsory licenses, their restriction to the local market, and the fair compensation for the patent owner. The efforts to be exerted within reasonable period of time for obtaining voluntary license, the prohibition to transfer compulsory licenses and other conditions are also introduced through the amendment to conform to the TRIPS provisions. The public emergency, the public interest and non-commercial uses are also mentioned as grounds of granting compulsory licences.

The 1992 Copyrights Law No. 40 lays down provisions to protect the exclusive rights of authors in relation with their literary and artistic works and determine the scope of the protection. The 1992 Copyrights Law, Articles 37-44, provides for preventive measures and penalty including confiscation, the closing of the institution violating copyright and prison and compensation. The draft amendment will provide additional measures to allow enforcement of copyrights as referred to in the TRIPS Agreement. The obligations contained in Article 9 of the TRIPS Agreement (Berne Convention Articles 1-21 except Article 6bis) will be met through the extension of the scope of copyright in terms of categories and subjects covered as well as the nature of the protection.

The 1992 Copyrights Law No. 40 protects computer programs. Article 2 of this law mentions computer programs under the scope of protection. As mentioned in the answer to question no. 2, Articles 37-44 provide for preventive measures and penalty in order to enforce and protect the owner rights, including computer programs. The draft amendment will bring computer programs applications as well as databases into the scope of copyright protection. It will introduce in clear terms the exclusive rights to exploit literary works, including computer programs, databases and compilation of data.

The rental right is available under the existing law through the right of free exploitation provided for in Article 14 of the 1992 Copyright Law. The rental right applies to all copyrights except for the computer program if the program does not constitute itself the main subject of the rental. It does not apply also to cinematography works unless the rental right is affecting their normal exploitation.

The 1992 Copyright Law includes the rights of producers of phonograms and broadcasting organisations under the protection of copyrights. However, the broadcasting of normal news and events do not fall under the umbrella of the protection unless they are assembled an innovative way or were subject to a personal effort that deserves protection.

The protection doesn’t cover just ideas, procedures, methods of work or function, concepts, principles, inventions and information as such even when they are expressed or explained or clarified or included a copyright. The protection does not cover also official documents regardless of their original language or the language to which is translated. The broadcasting of normal news and events does not benefit from the protection unless they are assembled in an innovative manner or subject to a personal effort that deserves such a protection as mentioned above.

The term of protection of copyrights and neighbouring rights is determined 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 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 Copyrights Law Articles 38-44 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. Furthermore, the amendment envisages to state that in case of conflict of laws the provisions of the law shall apply on the works, performances, phonograms, broadcasting programs related to foreigners on conditions of reciprocity, and without prejudice to the provisions of the international agreements to which the UAE is party.

The 1992 Trademarks Law No. 37 defines in its Article 1 a sign as a drawing which can be seen and which constitutes one element. Article 2 of the same law considers as trademark, among others, signs, which take a particular form if they are used to distinguish goods, products or services, or to indicate that the products, goods or services are the properties of the owner of the mark.

The 1992 Trademarks Law provides for protection of services-related trademarks in the same conditions of the protection of goods-related trademarks. The sign is protected if it constitutes a trademark as explained in the answer to question no. 9. The sound constitutes an element of the trademark if it accompanies the trademark.

Article 22 of the Trademarks Law allows the court to decide on the deletion of the registration of a trademark if it was determined that the mark has not been used effectively during five years unless the owner justifies the non-use of the trademark. The amendment of this article will further clarify this situation by adding that the non-use of the trademark should not be a reason of the deletion if it is outside of the power and the will of the owner.

Article 19 of the Trademarks Law permits that the registration of trademarks be indefinitely renewable.

The 1992 Trademarks Law in its Article 3 prohibits the registration of marks that are contrary to the morality or to the public order. The marks aimed at confusing the public with regard to the origin of the goods or services or including counterfeit or fraud, etc are not permitted. The by-law of the 1992 Trademarks Law defines administrative requirements under which a trademark is registered.

The Trademarks Law allows the trademarks registration authority to refuse a trademark application if it contains a geographical indication that its use leads to confuse the public with regard to the origin of the related goods or services.

The Trademarks Law does not contain a definition of geographical indication as such. However, all sorts of names, including geographical indications, are considered as trademarks if they are used to distinguish goods or services with regard to their production, selection or commercialisation. The explicit exclusion of geographical indications, which lead to confusing the public with regard to the origin of the concerned goods or services, confirms that the Trademarks Law covers the geographical indications as referred to in the TRIPS Agreement.

See the answer to question no. 15.

The Trademarks Law does not provide any additional protection to wines and spirits.

Article 3 of the trademarks Law includes among marks which may not be validly registered marks that are composed merely of the appellation commonly used for goods, products, services, familiar drawings of ordinary pictures of goods and services.

The 1992 Patent, Designs and Industrial Models Law No. 44 defines in its Article 1 the industrial design as any form constituted by lines or colours, or any three-dimensional form that is primarily related to lines or colours, provided that it has a specific appearance and can be used as a model in industry or handicraft. The amendment of this article will distinguish between a drawing, which is any form of lines or colours, and the industrial model, which is any isometric structure. Textile designs are protected under the above-mentioned Law as industrial designs. The term of the registration of an industrial design is five years and it may be renewed for two successive periods (Article 48 of the above-mentioned law). The amendment will extend the period of protection to ten years as referred to in the TRIPS Agreement. Article 49 prevents third parties from using the industrial design for manufacturing any product and importing any product related to the industrial design or processing it for the purpose of offering it for sale or to sell it.

See the answer to question no. 19.