UK's New IP Attaché to the Middle East and North Africa

Author Nederlandse Leeuw Licence CC BY-SA 4.0 Source Wikimedia Commons

Jane Lambert

The UK has a new IP attaché for the Middle East and North Africa ("MENA") region.  Her name is Sanaz Javadi Farahzadi and she is interviewed in the latest issue of IP Overseas.  Ms Farahzadi succeeds Yamish Yakoob who was IP attaché to the Gulf Cooperation Council states between 2021 and earlier this year. Further information about Ms Farahzadi and her mission appears in the latest edition of the Attaché Contact Details guidance.

MENA is a large and diverse region stretching from the Atlantic to the Arabian Gulf. It includes some of the wealthiest states on the planet as well as some of the poorest. Wars are taking place in several parts of the region and the political complexion of the governments ranges from absolute monarchy to Ba'ath socialism.  

The countries of the region vary widely in their level of protection for intellectual assets.  Morocco and Tunisia have validation agreements with the European Patent Office.  Saudi Arabia is hosting the Design Law Treaty Diplomatic Conference.  The TRIPS agreement was signed in Marrakech.  On the other hand, Palestine offers much more limited IP protection as I stated in  IP Law in Palestine last year.

As I mentioned in Why is there no longer a British IP Attaché to the Gulf Co-operation Council? these chambers have invested heavily in the region.  We are all entitled to appear as advocates before the English language, common law, commercial courts in Abu Dhabi, Doha and Dubai and several of us have appeared before those tribunals.  We also sit as or appear before arbitrators and mediators in all parts of the region.  We can also advise and represent clients from that region with interests in the United Kingdom,

Stephen Somerville, our first deputy senior clerk is currently in Dubai.  Should anyone in that Emirate wish to meet him his email address is ssomerville@4-5.co.uk.  Anyone wishing to discuss this article may call me during UK office hours on +44 (0)20 7404 5252 or send me a message through my contact form,

Saudi Arabia to host Design Law Treaty Diplomatic Conference

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Jane Lambert

A diplomatic conference will take place in Riyadh between 11 and 22 Nov 2024 to conclude and adopt a design law treaty.   Although art 5quinquies of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property requires industrial designs to be protected by all countries of the Paris Union how they are protected varies greatly from country to country.  Countries like the UK and EU member states provide a system of design registration.  Other countries like the USA grant design patents.  The purpose of the proposed treaty is to harmonize and facilitate the registration procedure.

A draft treaty and implementing regulations have already been proposed.  The proposed treaty consists of 32 articles covering abbreviations, general principles, filing, grace periods, publication, terms of protection, renewal, regulations and governance.  An agenda, timetable and social programme have also been published.  The proposed treaty will not affect contracting parties' obligations under the Hague Agreement or Section 4  of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights ("TRIPs").

Further information on the conference can be contained from the World Intellectual Property Office and the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property websites.  Anyone wishing to discuss this article may call me on +44 (0)20 7404 5252 during UK office hours or send me a message through my contact page,