KUWAIT
October 17, 2016
The Kuwaiti Ministry of Trade and Industry approved Law no.115 of 2016 on the regulations implementing patent Law no. 71 of 2013.
This new Law came into force on April 4th, 2016. However, it is important to mention that the Kuwaiti Office stopped accepting new patent application as of April 4th, 2016 and it is advising potential applicants seeking for protection in Kuwait to use the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) regional patent office. Moreover, since Kuwait became a member of the PCT agreement on September 9th, 2016 any international patent application filed on or after this date, will automatically include the designation of Kuwait. Therefore, from now on, nationals and residents of Kuwait will have the right as from September 9th, 2016 to file international applications under PCT.