Kuwait: Substantive Examination of Patents
The Supreme Council of the GCC held its annual meeting on 5 January 2021 and issued its decision that the GCC Patent Office will no longer accept any new patent applications as of 6 January 2021. Thus discontinuing GCC Patent System.
As a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), protection of patents in Kuwait could only be obtained through the GCC Patent Office for many years. Although a national system for filing of patents was provided, however, no input from the Kuwaiti Patent Office was provided after filing the national application as it acted as a repository. There was no substantive examination and grant of a patent in Kuwait.
The Kuwaiti Patent Office has now started substantive examination of patent applications. Two patents were granted in January 2021, and published in the Official Gazette no. 1518 of year 67 issued on January 17, 2021. The acceptance decisions for the two granted patents were published in the Arabic version of the said Gazette, which can be checked online through “Kuwait Al-Yawm” official website.
Pursuant to the Kuwaiti Law and Regulations, if the substantive examination reveals that the application fulfills the conditions as stipulated in the law and the executive regulations, the Patent Office shall issue a decision to grant the patent, it shall be recorded in the Registry and published, after notifying the applicant and paying the related fees. The grant document shall be provided to the patent owner after three months from the date of publication, if no objection was submitted by any interested party to the Committee.
On the other hand, if the substantive examination reveals that the applicant is ineligible to be granted the patent, the patent office shall issue a decision rejecting the application, explaining the reason for the rejection, the applicant shall be notified and it shall be published. The applicant may appeal this decision to the Committee within three months from the date of its publication.
Such progress is a welcome step, as there has been no formal announcement on Kuwait's position after the end of the GCC Patent. The Kuwaiti Patent Office should continue to ease the process of grant of nationally filed patent applications to encourage Intellectual Property owners in protecting their inventions in Kuwait.