Article 5(d) of the draft Law on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights provides that the author and his successor in title has exclusive right to authorise or prohibit the use of one or more copies of his work by others for rental or lending to the public. Article 7 provides that such right with respect to computer programs does not apply where the program itself is not the essential object of the rental or lending. Article 7 further provides that the right does not apply with respect to cinematographic works unless such rental or lending has led to widespread copying of such work which is materially impairing the exclusive right of reproduction.

With respect to the scope of protection, Article 5 of the draft Law on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights provides: An author and his successors shall have the exclusive right to financially exploit his work by any means and shall have in particular the exclusive right to authorize or prohibit the following acts in relation to his work: a) Publishing, broadcasting and producing the work to the public; b) Reproduction by all means including photography, cinematography and recording; c) Translation, adaptation, arrangements or other transformation of the work; d) Use of a copy or more of the work for the purpose of rental or lending to the public or any other act in relation to making the work available to the public; e) Public performance of the work by reading or recital or acting or singing or any other mean; and f) Distribution to the public by sale, rental, public lending or otherwise of the original or a copy of the work that has not already been authorized by the author. By virtue of Articles 28 and 29 of the draft Law, the financial rights of an author are protected during his lifetime and for 50 years after his death, or the death of the last person of the authors remaining alive if there is more then one author. The 50 years period is calculated starting from the first day of the Gregorian calendar year following the actual date of death of the author or the last author remaining alive as the case may be. By virtue of Article 31 of the draft Law, the rights with respect to a work which does not bear the author's name or which bears a pseudonym shall be protected for 50 years starting from the first day of the Gregorian calendar year following the year during which the work was published or made available to the public for the first time, whichever comes last, unless the identity of the author is known or revealed in which case the term of protection shall be for his life time and 50 years thereafter starting from the first day of the Gregorian calendar year following the year during which he died. Article 30 provides that the financial rights relating to authors of a collective work, other then applied art, shall be protected for 50 years starting from the first day of the Gregorian calendar year following the year during which the work was published or made available to the public for the first time which ever comes last, and where the author is a natural person, the term shall be calculated according to the rule provided under Article 28 and 29 referred to above. Article 30 further provides that the rights relating to a work published for the first time after the death of the author shall lapse after 50 years starting from the first day of the Gregorian calendar year following the year during which the work was published or made available to the public for the first time, whichever comes last.

Article 15 of the draft Law on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights provides: "Performers shall enjoy in respect of their performances the following exclusive rights: 1. To broadcast or communicate their unfixed performances to the public. 2. To fix their unfixed performances on phonograms. 3. To reproduce their fixed performances on phonograms. 4. Authorise commercial rental or lending to the public of an original or copies of their fixed performances." Article 34 of the draft Law on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights provides: The term of protection to a performance is for a period of 50 years computed from the first day of the Gregorian calendar year following the year in which the performance was first fixed on a phonogram or, in the absence of such fixation, the year in which the performance took place.

Article 17 of the draft Law on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights provides that producers of phonograms enjoy the following exclusive rights: a) Prevent any exploitation of their recordings in any manner, without prior written authorisation, directly or indirectly, including in particular; reproduction, renting, lending, broadcasting or making available to the public through computers or the Internet or other means of technology. b) Making their recordings available to the public by wire or wireless means or through computers or any other means of technology. Article 35 of the draft Law on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights provides that the protection shall last until the end of a period of 50 years computed from the first day of the Gregorian calendar year following the year in which the publication of the phonogram was made or, in the absence of publication, the year in which the performance took place.

Article 1 of the draft Law on Trademarks provides: "A trademark is any distinctive sign comprised of names, words, signatures, letters, symbols, numerals, addresses, seals, designs, pictures, engravings, figurative elements, shapes, wrappings, combination of colours or any combination of such visible signs if used, or intended to be used, for distinguishing the goods or services of one undertaking from those of other undertakings or to indicate the provision of a particular service. Sound and smell may form part of a trademark." Article 3 of the draft Law provides that the following shall not be considered as registerable trademark and their application for registration shall not be accepted if they have any of the following descriptions: a) Marks that are devoid of any distinctive character or consist of signs that customarily designate the goods or services or the common drawings or pictures of the goods or services. b) Any expression, drawing, picture or mark that is contrary to public order or morality. c) Honorary signs, public and military insignia, flags and other symbols belonging to the State of Bahrain or Arab or international organizations or any of their institutions or belonging to any of the states that accord similar treatment in this respect to the State of Bahrain as well as any imitation of the foregoing matters. d) Symbols of the Red Crescent or Red Cross and emblems of the same character as well as all imitations thereof. e) Similar or identical marks to the symbols that have a purely religious character. g) Geographical names and indications if their use is likely to cause confusion with respect to the origin or source of the goods or services. h) Marks that are likely to mislead the public or that contain false details about the origin or source of the goods or services or their other qualities as well as marks that contain a false, imitated or fictitious counterfeit name. i) Name of another person or his surname, photograph or emblems unless he or his heirs give their prior approval to the use thereof. j) Particulars relating to honorary titles which the applicant for registration thereof is unable to prove that he is legally entitled to use for such purposes. k) Marks that are identical or similar to a mark that was previously registered by others for the same goods or services for which the mark is to be registered or for an item thereof or a mark that is similar to the aforesaid mark to an extent that may lead to misleading others; or marks the registration of which for certain goods or services may undermine the value of the goods or services that are distinguished by the said mark. l) Any mark, or a fundamental part thereof, which is identical, similar or constitutes a copy, imitation or translation of a well-known trademark for its use to distinguish similar or identical goods or services to the goods or services for which it is famous and is likely to cause confusion with the well-known trade mark or for its use for goods or services in a manner that is likely to cause damage to the owner of the well-known trade mark and indicates a relationship between it and such goods or services. m) Marks that contain the following words or expressions: "licence", "registered", "registered drawing", "copyright" or such similar words and expressions.

Article 8 of the draft Law on Trademarks provides: "An application for registration of a trademark shall be filed with the competent Directorate by the concerned person, or his representative, using the prescribed form and in accordance with the provisions set forth in this Law and pursuant to the terms, conditions and procedure prescribed in the Implementing Regulation." A draft of the Implementing Regulation is currently under preparation. Article 11 provides that: "If two persons or more file an application for the registration of the same trademark or similar or closely similar trademarks for a single class of goods or services, processing the applications for registration shall be suspended until one of the applicants submits a document signed by the other parties to the dispute, and attested by the competent authority, relinquishing their claims in its favour or until the handing down of a final judgement in favour of one of them." Article 12 of the draft Law provides that the competent Directorate may reject the application or prescribe conditions or restrictions on the registration. The competent Directorate is required to notify the applicant of its decision by registered mail and the applicant may challenge the decision. Article 12 further requires the competent Directorate to decide upon the application within 30 days failing which the application is considered rejected. Article 13(a) provides that once the application is accepted, the competent Directorate shall publish it in the manner prescribed in the Implementing Regulation. Following the publication of a trademark, Article 13(b) provides that any concerned person may petition the competent Directorate to challenge the registration of the trademark stating his reasons for the challenge. The petition must be submitted within 60 days after the publication of the trademark. The competent Directorate is required to notify the petition to the applicant within 30 days and the applicant is required to respond in writing within 30 days otherwise he will be considered as to have withdrawn his application. Article 13(c) provides that before deciding upon the challenge, the competent Directorate is required to hear the parties if requested to do so by any of them. Article 13(c) further provides that the competent Directorate shall decide upon the petition within 60 days from receipt of the reply to the challenge. Article 13(d) provides that the competent Directorate shall issue a decision on accepting the registration within 60 days from publishing the Trademark where no challenge is made, otherwise within 15 days from deciding upon the challenge. A decision to accept the registration may be subject to certain conditions or limitations. Where a decision is made to accept the registration, the trademark shall be entered in the register. Article 14 provides that a certificate of registration shall be issued to the owner of the trademark once a trademark is registered. Article 41 provides that any concerned person may appeal to the Minister against any decision of the competent Directorate within 30 days of that person's knowledge of that decision. The Minister is required to decide upon the appeal within 30 days and the person who lodged the appeal is required to be notified of the decision within 30 days thereafter. Where a period of 60 days has elapsed without the person who submitted the appeal being informed of a decision, his appeal shall be considered rejected. Thereafter, a challenge to the decision shall lie with the court within 60 days after the decision is made or considered rejected as the case may be. As to the rights that the owner of a registered trademark can exercise, Article 15 of the draft Law provides that the trademark owner has an exclusive right to prevent all third parties not having the owner's consent from using identical or similar signs for goods or services which are identical or similar to those in respect of which the trademark is registered where such use would result in a likelihood of confusion. In case of the use of an identical sign for identical goods or services, a likelihood of confusion shall be presumed. By virtue of Articles 34 to 38 of the draft Law, provisional measures, border measures and criminal sanctions are available only to Registered Trademarks.

Article 18(a) of the draft Law provides that registration is initially for 10 years starting from the date of application for registration and thereafter renewable indefinitely for similar periods subject to payment of the requisite fee. Article 19(b) provides that the court may, upon application by any party having an interest, order the registration to be cancelled if satisfied that the trademark has not been used for an uninterrupted period of 5 years for no valid reason.

Article 29(a) provides that the owner of a well-known trademark (even if not registered) may apply to the court to prohibit third parties not having the owner's consent from using a trademark which constitutes a reproduction, an imitation, or a translation or contains an essential part which constitutes a reproduction of the well- known trademark, for identical or similar goods for which the trademark is registered, that is likely to create confusion. This also applies to goods or services which are not similar to those in respect of which the trademark is entitled to protection, provided that use of that trademark in relation to those goods or services would indicate a connection between those goods or services and the owner of the trademark and provided that the interests of the owner of the trademark are likely to be damaged by such use. In all the foregoing cases, Article 3(l) prohibits the registration of the mark and hence only the owner of the well-known trademark will have the right to have his trademark registered. Article 29(b) provides that a well-know trademark enjoys protection even if not registered. Article 29(c) provides that a request for the annulment of the registration of a well-know trademark may be submitted within 5 years of the registration of the trademarks but no time limit shall apply where the registration was made in bad faith.

Article 3(f) of the draft Trademarks Law prohibits the registration of a trademark where its use is likely to create confusion with respect to the origin or source of the goods or services. Also Article 2 of the draft Law on Geographical Indications defines a Geographical Indication and prohibits its unlawful use and provides that such use amounts to unfair competition. The use of any means in the designation or presentation of a good that indicates or suggests that the good in question originates in a geographical area other than the true place of origin in a manner which misleads the public as to the geographical origin of the good. Article 12 of the draft Law on Geographical Indications provides for criminal sanctions in the case of unlawful use of a Geographical Indication. As allowed under Article 24.9 of the TRIPS Agreement, Article 9(c) excludes protection to Geographical Indications, which are not, or cease to be protected in their country of origin, or which have fallen into disuse in that country. Also a claim for an unlawful use of a Geographical Indication, even if not registered, may be founded on unfair competition based on the provisions of Article 61 of the Law of Commerce of 1987. The draft Law provides for registration but does not require registration for protection except that criminal sanctions and provisional measures are only available to those which are registered. The provisional measures that may be ordered based on Article 11 of the draft Law include: i) Prevention of an alleged imminent infringement from occurring. ii) Injunction to cease an alleged infringement. iii) Recording or preserving relevant evidence. Upon ordering a provisional measure the court may appoint one or more experts to assist with the execution of the order. As the draft Law has not yet been enacted, no examples of Geographical Indications so protected can be given at this stage.

The draft Law on Geographical Indications does not explicitly refer to wines and spirits. However, Article 13 provides that any person may claim a more favourable protection granted to a Geographical indication under any agreement, convention or treaty to which Bahrain is party.

Based on Article 5 of the draft Law on Industrial Designs, the procedure is identical to that for Trademarks already outlined under the response to question 9 except that as shall be clarified in the Implementing Regulation, the registration of a design shall not be subject to examination as to entitlement and allows for opposition by third parties after acceptance of the application.

Textile designs may be protected based on the provisions of the draft Law on Industrial Designs. However, Article 2 does not preclude protection based on other Laws. In order to benefit from the simpler filing and processing procedure, an applicant for the registration of textile designs may file a single application for multiple designs as provided for under Article 5(a) of the draft Law an Industrial Designs.

Article 1 of the draft Law on Patents and Utility Models provides that patents are available for any inventions, whether products or processes, provided they are new, involve an inventive step and are capable of industrial application. Article 1 further provides that an invention is capable of industrial application if it can be applied or exploited in any field of technology. The draft Law on Patents and Utility Models contains exceptions which do not go beyond those allowed under Article 27 of the TRIPS Agreement. The exceptions provided by virtue of Articles 1 and 3 of the draft Law are: a) Inventions, the prevention of the commercial exploitation of which is necessary to protect public order or morality or to avoid serious damage to the environment. b) Plants and animals, other than micro-organisms, and essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals other than non-biological and microbiological processes. c) Diagnostic, therapeutic and surgical methods for the treatment of humans or animals, excluding products used for such methods. d) Scientific discoveries, theories and mathematical methods. Plant varieties are to be protected by a Law on the Protection of New Plant Varieties. The implementation of Article 27 of the TRIPS Agreement with respect to plant varieties is provided under Article 4 of the said draft which states: "In order to be protected, a plant variety must be new, distinct, uniform, stable and must be designated by a denomination. A variety is deemed new if the period from the first date of marketing or distribution of its propagating material within the State of Bahrain by the breeder or with his consent, for the purpose of exploitation of such variety, does not exceed one year. If it has been marketed or distributed abroad, the period shall not exceed 6 years for trees and vines, or 4 years for other plants. In all cases, the prior period starts from the date of the application. The novelty condition is not lost if the variety is sold or a right to exploit it has been granted elsewhere before protection is granted. A variety is deemed distinct if it is distinguishable by at least one clear characteristic from other known varieties. A variety is deemed uniform if the differences between its elements are within generally excepted limits. A variety is deemed stable if, after repeated propagation, its main characteristics remain unchanged."

Article 11(2) provides that the patent holder shall have the following rights: "Where the subject matter of a patent is a product: the patent holder has the exclusive right to prevent third parties not having the holder's consent from the acts of making, using, offering for sale, selling, or importing for these purposes that product. Where the subject matter of a patent is a process: the patent holder has the exclusive right to prevent third parties not having the holder's consent from the acts of using the process, and from the acts of: using, offering for sale, selling, or importing for those purposes the product obtained directly by that process." Article 22 of the draft Law also provides that the patent holder shall have the right to wholly or partially assign, or transfer by succession, the patent and to conclude licensing contracts.

Article 13 of the draft Law on Patents and Utility Models provides for limited exceptions where the use of a patent does not require the authorisation of the patent holder. These are: a) The use of the patent for personal purposes, which are non-commercial and non-industrial, or for research purposes. b) Where a third party in Bahrain has in good faith made arrangements to exploit in Bahrain the invention the subject of the patent before an application of a patent is filed and without the consent of the patent holder, that third party shall have the right to use the invention for the purposes of its own undertaking and provided that such right shall not be transferable independently of that undertaking. c) Use of the invention on a land vehicle, vessel or aircraft temporarily or accidentally present in Bahrain. d) The use by a third party of the patent during its protection period for manufacturing a pharmaceutical chemical product for the purpose of obtaining governmental approval for the marketing of the product provided that the marketing does not start prior to the expiry of the protection period. Also Articles 24-27 of the draft Law on Patents and Utility Models provide for the possibility of obtaining a compulsory licence in respect of a patent. It is submitted that these provisions are in line with Article 31 of the TRIPS Agreement. These provisions are reproduced below Article 24 The Minister of Commerce and Industry may issue a non-exclusive compulsory licence for the exploitation of a patent in the following cases: a) National emergency or other circumstances of extreme urgency or for public non-commercial use provided that the holder of the patent is notified as soon as possible after the licence is granted. b) Where the holder of the patent has not made sufficient use of the patent to the extent that he has failed to satisfy the needs of the domestic market, at reasonable prices for 3, years starting from the date of the grant of the patent or 4 years starting from the date of the filing of the patent application, whichever is longer. In such a situation, the Minister shall have the right to issue a compulsory licence to any person to whom the patent holder has refused to grant a licence or to whom the holder has imposed unfair commercial terms in order to grant him such a licence. c) Where a patented invention (first patent) involves an important technical advance of considerable economic significance in relation to another patented invention (second patent), and where the first patent can not be exploited without exploiting the second patent, the holder of the first patent may be granted a compulsory licence to exploit the second patent. This is provided that the holder of the second patent has refused to allow such exploitation on reasonable terms. The exploitation of the second patent authorized in this case may not be assigned without the assignment of the first patent. The holder of the second patent may also be granted a compulsory licence to exploit, at reasonable terms, the first patent in respect to which the other compulsory licence was granted . d) Where the holder of the patent exercises his rights for anti-competitive ends. Article 25 The following provisions shall apply to compulsory licences: a) Applications for compulsory licences shall-upon the payment of the prescribed fee-be considered each upon its own merits. b) The licence shall be exploited predominantly for the supply of the domestic market. c) The applicant must be capable of effectively exploiting the invention through an enterprise existing in the State of Bahrain. d) The licence shall only be granted if the applicant has made reasonable efforts to obtain a licence from the patent holder on reasonable commercial terms and conditions, and that such efforts have not been successful within a reasonable period of time. e) The applicant shall agree to limit the exploitation of the invention to the purpose, scope, conditions and period for which the licence is to be granted. f) Where the proposed exploitation relates to semi-conductor technology, authorisation shall only be granted for public non-commercial use or to remedy practices determined to be anti-competitive. g) The proposed user shall not assign the licence except with the enterprise or the part thereof relating to the exploitation of the invention and after the approval of the Minister of Commerce and Industry. h) The patent holder shall be entitled to adequate remuneration taking into account the monetary value of the licence. The need to remedy anti-competitive practices, if applicable, may be taken into account in determining the remuneration. i) The conditions provided for in items (b) and (d) of this Article shall not apply to situations where a licence is granted to remedy anti-competitive practices. j) The Minister of Commerce and Industry shall ex officio or at the request of any interested party have the authority to amend the conditions of a compulsory licence in case of change in circumstances. Article 26 Except in cases of national emergency and other circumstances of extreme urgency as referred to under Article 24(a), the competent Directorate at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry shall provide the patent holder with a copy of the licence application. The patent holder shall be provided a reasonable opportunity to respond in writing to the application. The processing of the application shall be in accordance with the procedure specified in the Implementing Regulation. The Minister of Commerce and Industry shall issue a decision accepting or rejecting the application and may grant an acceptance subject to any conditions he deems appropriate. In all cases, the Minister shall notify the holder of the patent and the applicant of his decision within 30 days of the issuance of such a decision and the competent Directorate shall enter the decision in the register of patents. The decision shall also be published in the manner specified in the Implementing Regulation. Article 27 The Minister of Commerce and Industry shall ex officio or at the request of the patent holder have the authority to terminate the licence before the end of its term in the following cases: a) The circumstances, which led to the granting of the licence, have ceased to exist and are unlikely to recur. In such case, the legitimate interests of the licensee shall be adequately protected in accordance with the terms and procedures specified in the Implementing Regulation. b) The licensee has not exploited the licence for two years from the date of its issuance. c) The licensee has not complied with any of the conditions of the licence or has failed to fulfil his obligations under this Law and the related Implementing Regulation. The decision of the Minister of Commerce and Industry in respect of the application for a compulsory licence may be challenged based on Article 36 of the draft Law which provides: "Subject to the provisions for challenges provided for under Articles 18 and 19 and without prejudice to the provisions of Article 15 of this Law, any interested party may submit a petition to the Minister of Commerce and Industry in respect of any final decision issued in accordance with this Law within 30 days of its notification to that person. A decision in respect of the petition shall be issued within 30 days of its submission and the interested party shall be notified of the decision in writing within 30 days of its date of issuance. If the interested party is not notified of a decision within 60 days of the date of submission of his petition, such petition shall be deemed rejected. Where a petition has been rejected or deemed rejected, the interested party may appeal such rejection before the High Civil Court within 60 days of its notification or lapse of the period beyond which the petition is deemed rejected as the case may be. An appeal may not be brought before the court until a petition has been filed and a decision has been issued or the period for a decision has lapsed."

Article 14 of the draft Law provides that the term of protection is 20 years counted from the filing date. The draft Law does not contain any provisions for extending the term of protection.

Protection for layout-designs of integrated circuits is to be provided by a Law on the Protection of Layout-Designs of Integrated Circuits which at present is also in a draft form. The draft Law implements Articles 35 – 38 of the TRIPS Agreement. Article 8 of the draft Law provides that the term of protection is 10 years counted from the date of filing an application for registration in Bahrain or from the date of the first commercial exploitation wherever in the world it occurs whichever expires earlier, but in all cases the term of protection shall lapse 15 years after the creation of the layout design . The draft Law provides for a system of registration of designs. Article 12 to 15 of the draft Law provides for a system of granting compulsory licences which is in line with Article 31(a) to (k) of the TRIPS Agreement. The system is identical to that provided for patents outlined in the response to question 18 except that Article 31(l) of the TRIPS Agreement is excluded with respect to layout- designs as permitted under Article 37.2 of the TRIPS Agreement. Article 17 of the draft Law provides for criminal sanctions against infringements to the rights of the design owner. The draft Law does not require registration of the design in order to enjoy the protection provided for in the Law, except that provisional measures and criminal sanctions are only available to registered designs.

Protection of undisclosed information is provided for in the draft Law on the Protection of Trade Secrets. The draft Law implements the provisions of Article 39 of the TRIPS Agreement. Article 1 of the draft Law implements the provisions of Article 39.2 of the TRIPS Agreement. Article 4 of the draft Law provides for what in particular is considered "a manner contrary to honest commercial practices" referred to in Article 1 of the draft Law. Article 4 provides the following with respect to what in particular is considered "a manner contrary to honest commercial practices": a) Disclosure of secret information acquired by a party to a "confidential" agreement. b) Disclosure, or inducement to disclose, secret information in breach of a duty of trust. c) Misappropriation of information by unlawful means including fraud, espionage, theft or other improper means. d) Acquiring trade secrets from another person while knowing – or being capable of knowing – that such other person has acquired the trade secrets by committing one of the acts specified in the above items. Article 6 of the draft Law provides for provisional measures to be ordered by the court to restrain or to cease infringements. Article 7 provides for criminal sanctions against unlawful disclosure of trade secrets.

Article 2 of the draft Law on the Protection of Trade Secrets provides the following with respects to protection for test data: "The prohibition on disclosure of trade secrets referred to in the preceding Article shall extend 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 agricultural chemical products which utilise new chemicals entities. 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. Disclosure of the tests or data by the competent authorities shall only be made where necessary to protect the public or unless the necessary steps are taken to ensure that the data are protected against unfair commercial use."

As explained in the response to question 22, by virtue of Article 2 of the draft Law on the Protection of Trade Secrets, other applicants for marketing approval for their own versions of a previously approved pharmaceutical or agricultural chemical products are not permitted to rely on data submitted by an earlier applicant before the lapse of 5 years from the date of marketing approval in Bahrain of the original pharmaceutical or agricultural products which utilise new chemical entities.