Saudi Arabia accedes to the Patent Law Treaty and PCT

On 3 May 2013 Saudi Arabia acceded to the Patent Law Treaty and the Patent Co-operation Treaty with effect from 3 August 2013.  The Patent Law Treaty harmonizes the procedures and formalities for patent applications.  The Patent Co-operation Treaty enables applications for patents for several countries or groups of countries to be made simultaneously.

The only other intellectual property conventions to which Saudi Arabia had previously been party (other than the WIPO Convention and TRIPS) were Paris and Berne.  The Saudi government had notified its accession to those treaties on 11 Dec 2003 and they came into effect on 11 March 204.

For a short overview of Saudi intellectual property law see my article of 22 May 2011.  If you require specific information on intellectual property or technology law anywhere in the Middle East North Africa region or representation members of my chambers will be glad to advise you where we can or refer you to our connections in the region where appropriate.   Call us on +44 (0)20 7404 5252 or complete our contact form.