Industrial Design Registration in Bahrain

As per the law of Industrial Design, any natural person or legal entity who is a citizen of the Kingdom of Bahrain or a foreigner of a country member in the World Trade Organization or the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial property, or that applies reciprocity to the Kingdom, or if the person has real and effective industrial or commercial establishments in the territories of such countries, shall have the right to file an application for the registration of an industrial design in conformity with the provisions of this Law.

The protection period of an industrial design shall be for a period of ten years as from the date of filing the registration application in the Kingdom. The protection shall be extended for a further period of five years, when the right holder applies for renewal within the last year of the protection period. The owner may, however, apply for renewal of the registration, within three months after the expiry of the prescribed protection period.

As per the law, the application for the registration of an industrial design shall be filed and an application may include up to 50 industrial designs, provided that they all constitute a “unity”.

Documents which are required for the filing must contains:

• the applicant’s details;
• two sets of drawings;
• the legal representative’s information or a copy of the power of attorney;
• priority details (if any);
• the payment of the filing fee.

The Industrial Design only undergoes formal examination post which it is registered for the period of 10 years. Industrial designs in Bahrain are subject to the payment of annual maintenance fees that are due from the second year of the publication date and must be paid on the anniversary of the publication.