The amendment to Article 23 of the Patent Law will introduce the condition that the applicant for licensing should prove that he exerted, within a reasonable period of time, efforts for obtaining a license from the patent holder with a reasonable compensation and under reasonable commercial conditions. Article 24 of the Patent Law excludes explicitly the right to import the product from the rights conferred to the beneficiary of compulsory licence.

The term of protection of patents is determined by a period of time of 20 years. The current law provides for protection for a period of time of 15 years which may be extended once for five years (Article 14 of the 1992 Patent Law No. 44). The amendment will provide for a protection of 20 years in order to conform to Article 33 of the TRIPS Agreement and does not provide for extension in this regard.

Article 66 of the Patent and Designs Law states that the inventions dealing with the chemistry of drugs or pharmaceutical compounds shall be protected by letters patents or utility certificates if they meet the conditions provided for in this law and its implementing regulations as of 1 January 2002. The same Article provides that the Administration shall continue to receive the patent applications for pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical products and register them. The applicant shall have the right of exclusive marketing for the invention in pursuance of Article 70 of the TRIPS Agreement. The pending patent applications are, thus, dealing with in full conformity with Article 70 paragraph 8 of the TRIPS Agreement. The Ministry of Finance and Industry, since the entry into force of the Agreement for the UAE, had open a Register in which patents applications for inventions concerning pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical products can be filed and enjoyed all rights stipulated in Article 70 paragraph 8 of the TRIPS Agreement.

The 1992 Patent Law does not provide for the reversal of the burden of proof in relation to process patents (Articles 58-61 concerning preventive measures, offences and penalty). However, the amendment to this articles will state that in case of litigation concerning the patent related to a process, the court shall have the authority to order the defendant to prove that the process which he has used is different from the patented process protected by a patent.

Article 15 of the Patent Law provides for preventive measures against illegal acts performed by third parties as explained above. However, Article 6 excludes chemical inventions related to pharmaceuticals, unless such products are made by means of special chemical processes, in which case protection is extend only to the processes and not to products of the processes. The amendment foreseen to Article 6 above, however, will delete the exclusion and bring the pharmaceutical processes and products under the protection of the law. The new articles will state that pharmaceutical products shall be subject to protection as of 1 January 2005. In the transitional period, the Administration is continuing to receive the patent applications in this field, which should be recorded in the patent Register. Furthermore, the amendment states that if the letters patent is issued in one of the Member states of the WTO for protecting patents related to such applications and if the holder is licensed to market his invention, then the applicant shall have the right of a exclusive marketing for such inventions, as of the date of licensing from competent parties in the UAE, in pursuance of the TRIPS Agreement provisions.

Topographies are protected under the 1992 Copyrights and Neighbouring Rights Law.

The 1992 Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Law and the amendment foreseen provide for preventive measures, including imprisonment and payment of fine, for anyone who manufacture or import unlawfully for the purpose of sale or rental of any equipment, instruments, or apparatus designed or prepared for the purpose of fraud against any technology used by the author or the holder of the neighbouring right.

The Copyrights and Neighboring rights does not provide for clear provisions to deal with such situations. However, the principles of the Code Civil, which is considered to be the cornerstone of the legal system in the UAE and constitutes a basic reference for the judicial system, could be used in such situations.

Topographies are classified among the works protected under the 1992 Copyrights and neighboring law No. 40. The 1992 law, which 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 UAE legislation does not define the period of time for the protection of undisclosed information. However, the 1992 Patent Law No. 44 in its article 41 provides that the provisions on the exploitation, surrender, transfer and licensing of the inventions shall be applicable to know-how contracts. This provision could be interpreted in such a way to link the term of protection of undisclosed information with the related patent.

The Patent Law in 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 following Articles 40-42 provide for provisions related to the necessary steps to preserve the confidentiality, including the contract, which must be concluded for this purposes. The by-laws of the Patent Law provide further explanations of the conditions needed to protect undisclosed information. The Civil Service Act prevents from any disclosure of information made by public servants. The by-laws of the Patent Law provide detailed conditions to be observed by the registration agent and the Registration Committee, including the observance of the principles of the profession and the enforcement of the Law. In all cases, the holder shall take the necessary steps to preserve the confidentiality of its information.

The Patent and designs Law defines in its Article (1) know-how as follows: “The information, data or knowledge as a result of acquired expertise in the applicable, technical, or professional field”. The Bylaw of the Patent Law as well as the annexes of the 1985 Ministerial Decision No. 870 adopted by the Minister of Health provide for more detailed explanation. Copies of this regulations and administrative notes can be provided if requested.

preventive measures against infringement of intellectual property rights. These provisions encompasses various measures ranging from the definition of illegal acts to preventive and punitive measures: - the 1992 Trademarks Law (Articles 37-43) - the 1992 Copyright Law (Articles 38-44) - the 1992 Patent Law (Articles 58-61) These laws provides also for remedy measures like preventive seizure, confiscation, destruction of product and equipment as well as removing of the effects of the illegal acts and compensation.

Yes, all these laws and others provide for appeal to judicial bodies of administrative decisions. With regard especially for example to compulsory licensing, the possibility to appeal is mentioned in Article 33 of Patent Law.

The Evidence Law provides the basis of the production of evidence in the light and the protection of confidentiality therein.

Article 58 of the Patent Law provides that the owner of the patent may request the competent court, either before or during the civil or criminal proceeding, to issue a writ of attachment on the invention or industrial design, or on the establishment or the part of establishment using or exploiting a patent, in relation to which an infringement or an unlawful act has been committed. The other IP laws provides for the same principle.

The Civil Transactional Law provides for compensation for the opposing party who has been subject to the injury he suffered.

See the answer to question no. 51.

See the answers to questions nos. 47 and 50.

Article 59 of the Patent and Designs Law states that the applicant of the precautionary seizure should deposit a bail evaluated by the court prior to issuing its order for seizure and the seizer should file the relevant action within eight days as from the date of the issuance of the court’s order otherwise the matter shall be deemed null and void. Moreover, it is permissible for the attached person to file an action for compensation within sixty days as from the date of the termination of the previous term or from the date of issuing the final decision of refusing the relevant action, which the seizor preferred. Furthermore, it isn’t permissible to cash the bail referred thereto except after the issuance of a final decision in the seizor’s action or the claim of compensation which the attached person filed. Also the Trademarks Law provides in its Article 43 for provision aimed at indemnifying the defendant through a judicial decision.