LAWS
Constitution
of the Kingdom of Bahrain (2002)
IP LAWS
Law
No. 6 of 2014 Approving the Law (System) of Trade Marks of the GCC (Gulf
Cooperation Council) Countries (2014).
Act No. 22 of
the Year 2006 Relating to the Protection of Copyright and Neighbouring Rights
(2006).
Law No. 12 of
2006 Amending some Provisions of Law No. 7 of 2003 Pertaining to Trade Secrets
(2006).
Law No. 14 of
2006 Amending some Provisions of Law No. 1 of 2004 in Respect of Patents and
Utility Models (2006).
Legislative
Decree No. 11 of 2006 in Respect of Trade Marks (2006).
Law No. 5 of
2006 on Designs of Integrated Circuits (2006).
Law No. 6 of
2006 on Industrial Designs and Models (2006).
Law No. 16 of
2006 Amending Law No. 16 of 2004 on the Protection of Geographical Indications
(2006).
Law No. 35 of
2005 Pertaining Amendment of Article No. 5 of Law No. 7 of 2003 on Trade
Secrets (2005).
Law No. 16 of
the Year 2004 Relating to the Protection of Geographical Indications (2004).
Law No. 1 of
2004 on Patents and Utility Models (2004).
Law No. 7 of
2003 on Trade Secrets (2003).
TREATIES
Law
No. 4 of 2012 Approving the Accession to the Budapest Treaty on the
International Recognition of the Deposit of Micro-organisms for the Purposes of
Patent Procedure (2012).
Law No. 21 of
2006 Approving the Accession of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the Trademark Law
Treaty (TLT), Adopted by the Diplomatic Conference in Geneva on October 27,
1994 (2006).
Law Approving
the Accession to the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the
International Registration of Marks (2005).
Law No. 19 of
2005 Approving the Accession of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the Patent Law Treaty
(PLT) and Regulations (2005).
Law No. 12 of 2005
Approving the Accession of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the International
Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV)(2005).
Law No. 13 of
2004 Approving the Accession of the Kingdom of Bahrain to Nice Agreement
Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the
Purposes of the Registration of Marks (2004).
TREATIES MEMBERSHIP
Budapest
Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Micro-organisms for
the Purposes of Patent Procedure (November 20, 2012).
Brussels
Convention Relating to the Distribution of Programme-Carrying Signals
Transmitted by Satellite (May 1, 2007).
Patent
Cooperation Treaty (March 18, 2007).
Trademark Law
Treaty (March 18, 2007).
Rome Convention
for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting
Organizations (January 18, 2006).
Nice Agreement
Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the
Purposes of the Registration of Marks (December 15, 2005).
Patent Law
Treaty (December 15, 2005).
Protocol
Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of
Marks (December 15, 2005).
WIPO Copyright
Treaty (December 15, 2005).
WIPO
Performances and Phonograms Treaty (December 15, 2005).
Paris
Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (October 29, 1997).
Berne
Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (March 2, 1997).
Convention
Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (June 22, 1995).
Directorate of Industrial Property with Ministry of
Industry & Commerce in Kingdom of Bahrain
PO
Box :5479,Manam,Bahrain
Tel
+ 973 17 530 335
Fax
+ 973 17 536 479
Mail
ip@commerce.gov.bh
www.moic.gov.bh
Bahrain
is a member of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property
since June 2007; accordingly, it is possible to proceed with filing a trademark
application with claiming priority. A single-class filing per application is
applied before the Bahraini Trademark Office.
Filing Requirements:
1- A
Power of Attorney signed by an authorized signatory of the applicant and
legalized up to the Bahraini Consulate or authenticated by an Apostille.
2- Any
One of the following supporting documents: Certificate of incorporation of the
applicant company legalized up to the Bahraini Consulate or authenticated by an
Apostille; or Certificate issued by the registrar of companies legalized up to
the Bahraini Consulate or authenticated by an Apostille; or Extract of the
entry of the applicant company in the commercial register legalized up to the
Bahraini Consulate or authenticated by an Apostille; or Certified copy of any
corresponding home or foreign registration/application of the mark, if priority
is to be claimed.
3- The
applicant’s details i.e., Name, Address and Etc.…
4- A
clear print of each mark as it is to be filed.
5- The
list of goods/services to be covered by the application.
Examination Procedures:
The trademark
application is to be examined formal as well as substantive to be registered.
The
Bahraini Trademark Office declared on November 18, 2014 under directives
numbered MS/14/34-1 that as of the said date onwards it is permitted under the
practice of the Bahraini Trademark Registrar to file trademark applications and
obtain filing number and date as well as the official filing certificate
without the complete required documents which can be submitted within a
non-extendable term of three months from the date of filing; or else their
applications will be declared abandoned.
Time frame:
The
expected time frame from filing up to registration in the normal course of
action; i.e. in case of no third party oppositions or objections by the
trademarks examiner is from 7 to 9 months.
Use requirement:
Non-use
for 5 years following registration makes the registration vulnerable to
cancellation; a court decision must be issued to make cancellation effective.
Renewal Requirements:
1- A
power of attorney from the owner of the mark with an Apostille certification.
2- Copy
of latest renewal/ registration certificate.
A grace
period of 3-months is given from the expiration date of the 10-years validity.
Recordal of Assignment requirements:
1-
A power of attorney from
the assignee company with an Apostille certification.
2- A copy of the deed of assignment executed by the two parties and sealed with their official stamps with an Apostille certification.
Recordal of Change of name and/or address:
1- A
power of attorney in the new name and/or address with an Apostille
certification.
2- A
certified copy of certificate of change of name and/or address.
Registered user/ License Agreement Requirements:
1- A
power of attorney by the licensee company with an Apostille certification.
2- A
copy of the license agreement signed by the parties with an Apostille
certification.
Agency Agreement requirements:
1- A
power of attorney with an Apostille certification.
2- A
copy of the agency agreement executed by the principal and his agent, with an
Apostille certification.
Notes:
Regarding the document(s) Legalization and Notarization procedures:
The
Kingdom of Bahrain announced that legalization of Power of Attorney and other
supporting documents required for all Intellectual Property (IP) related
matters would no longer be required. The Bahraini consulates abroad will no
longer provide legalization services for documents if the applicant’s country
is a member of the Hague Convention (October 5, 1961). This decision came as a
result of Bahrain’s accession to the Hague Convention (October 5, 1961)
abolishing the requirements of legalization of foreign public documents, and it
entered into force as from December 31, 2013.
Accordingly,
the apostille documents are sufficient for filing with the Industrial Property
Office and the Patent Office in Bahrain.
The requirements to file a sound mark are:
1- Musical
note composing of the sound mark written clearly;
2- Compact
Disk containing the musical note recited in MP3 audio format or any other
compatible format;
3- A
power of attorney with Apostille certification,
4- A
copy of certificate of incorporation and extract from the commercial register
of the applicant company.
Sound
trademarks will be examined in the same manner as traditional trademark
applications and will be subject to trademark law of Bahrain no. 11 of 2006
concerning standard trademarks. A modified trademark application format has
been created for the purpose of filing sound trademarks.
On
examination and acceptance of sound trademarks the mark will be published in
the Official Gazette with the musical composition printed in the space
specified for the traditional trademark print with an indication that any
interested party might resort to the Directorate of Industrial Property for
obtaining a copy of the compact disk for opposition purposes. A registration
certificate of the sound mark will be due for issuance upon expiry of the
opposition term.
A
sound trademark will be dealt with as a traditional trademarks as to official
fees and procedures of registration in accordance with the Bahraini Trademarks
Law no. 11 of 2006.
Infringement Proceedings:
There
is no evidentiary presumption that use of a recorded licensee is permitted use.
The licensee may join the trademark owner in infringement proceedings and may
also call upon the trademark owner to institute infringement proceedings, but
he may not institute proceedings in his own name if the proprietor refuses or
neglects to do so. The licensee can institute action against infringement only
if he is so authorized by the legitimate owner or if this is expressly provided
for in the license agreement.
In
Bahraini, once an application for the grant of a patent is filed, it is
examined with respect to compliance with the formalities and patentability
provided for under Patent and Utility Models Law No. 1 of 2004 and subsequent
amendment under Law No. 14 of 2006 and its Implementing Regulations promulgated
by approving under no. (54) for year 2006.
A patent
application should be filed in Bahrain within 12-months as of the filing date
of the priority document, in order to claim priority. It is possible to enter a
national phase patent application based on International PCT application. Such
national phase applications must be filed within 30 months from the earliest
priority filing date.
Patent requirements:
1- A Power
of attorney with an Apostille certification.
2- An
extract from the Commercial Register or from the Memorandum of Association if
the applicant is a company, with an Apostille certification.
3- One
copy of the English specification and claims together with its Arabic
translation.
4- One
set of the drawings relating to the invention, if any.
5- An
abstract of the invention of no more than 200 words, together with the best
explanatory diagram.
6- A
deed of assignment signed by the inventor and the applicant and duly legalized
up to an Arab consulate, if the applicant is not the inventor.
7- A
certified copy of the application giving the filing date, number and country if
the application is to be filed with a priority claim.
A
patent application can be filed with a simple copy of the power of attorney
signed and sealed with the corporate stamp of the applicant company provided
that the original legalized copy should be submitted with three months from the
date of filing the patent application and simple copies of documents under 2
and 5.
Please
note that the documents in items (3, 4 and 5) mentioned above should be
submitted to the Patent Office on the filing date of the application, while
documents in items [2, 6 & 7 can be submitted within 90 days (strictly
non-extendible) from the filing date of the patent application.
Validity:
The
term of protection of Patents is 20-years from filing date or from priority
date if priority is claimed.
Annuities:
A
maintenance fee is due annually on the anniversary of the date of grant. There
is a 6-month grace period for late payment with a surcharge.
Assignment Applications:
1- A
Power of Attorney signed by the assignee company, with an Apostille
certification.
2- Deed
of assignment executed by both parties with an Apostille certification.
3- Registered
User/License Agreement Applications:
4- A
Power of Attorney signed by the licensee company, with an Apostille
certification.
5- License
agreement executed by both parties and duly legalized up to an Arab consulate.
Change of Name/Address Applications:
1- A
Power of Attorney signed by the new name and address company, with an Apostille
certification.
2- A
certificate proving the change of name or address issued by a competent
authority of the applicant’s domicile.
Notes:
The
currently applicable Patents and Utility Models law in Bahrain is Law no. 1 of
2004, which was promulgated on January 29, 2004. On May 8, 2006, Ministerial
Resolution no. 54/2006 regarding the implementing regulations was issued. The
Patent Office started accepting patent applications as of May 11, 2006.
On
May 28, 2006, Law No. 14/2006 amending some articles of Law no. 1/2004
concerning Patents and Utility Models was issued in order to comply with the
provisions of the Patent Law Treaty and Patent Cooperation Treaty which entered
into force in the Kingdom on April 28, 2005. This law became effective as of
June 01, 2006.
As
for Patents and Utility Models granted since the year 1986 (that is, before the
promulgation of Law no. 1 of 2004), they will be treated as if granted under
the new Law and will therefore be governed by its provisions. As such, the
remaining protection term of the said patents will be calculated based on the 20-year
protection period as defined by the law.
Furthermore, the annuities of the said patents will apply on the remaining protection period and are payable starting from May 8, 2006, the date of issuance of the regulations implementing Law no. 1/2004.
Opposition procedures:
Patent
applications accepted by the Registrar are published in the Official Gazette.
Oppositions may be filed within 60 days from publication date.
Search:
It
is possible for patent applications and granted patents published in the Official
Gazette to be searched by title, patentee name, subject matter, and patent
number.
In
Bahrain the design registration validity is 10-years from the filing date
renewable for one term of 5 years each (Total of 15 years). Issuance of the
registration certificate in Bahrain stipulates the existence of a home
registration or any other foreign registration of the design. The
specifications shall be exactly as shown in the basic registration. It can be
either in the form of drawings or photographs and should show at least three
views of the design.
The
design application is examined as to form, novelty and industrial
applicability. The maintenance fee is to be paid annually on the anniversary of
the grant date.
A Grace
period of 6-months for late payment which is subject to a surcharge.
Design Requirements:
1- A
Power of Attorney, with an Apostille certification.
2- A
certified copy of Home Registration or any foreign registration.
3- 3
copies of the drawing of design.
4- Summary
description of the design.
5- A
copy of priority document, if priority is claimed, certified.
Notes:
·
Design applications accepted by the Registrar
are published in the Official Gazette. There is a 30-day period open for filing
an opposition by any interested party
·
The designs which contain Multiple-figure
applications are now admissible with up to 50 figures per application.
Copyright Applications in Bahrain:
FILING REQUIREMENTS:
In
order to proceed with the registration of a copyright, we require the following
documents:
1- A Power of Attorney legalized up to the
Bahraini Consulate.
2- A
legalized copy of the deed of assignment, if the applicant is not the author.
3- Three
copies of the work.
4- Title
and Type of Work.
5- Full
particulars of the applicant (Name, Nationality and full address).
Time frame:
The
approximate time frame for completing the registration process is 4 to 6 weeks.