IP Legal Practice In Oman

At the time of filing of the patent application, the applicant is required to file:

• Applicant’s name and address and Inventor’s name and address.
• Abstract, Specification, claims and drawings (if any) in English & Arabic.  In case, the complete Arabic translation is not ready at the time of filing the application, the inventor can file the application with Arabic translation of the Abstract and Title.
• Priority Application Number and filing date, PCT Application Number and Filing date (if any)
• Original Power of Attorney duly notarized and legalized either by the Apostille or legalized by the Consulate of Oman.
• Deed of Assignment executed by the inventor(s), assigning their patent rights to the applicant
• A certified copy of the priority document (along with a simple English translation), if it is a national filing.
• A valid simple copy of the Certificate of Incorporation of the applicant company or an extract of their entry in the Commercial Register or a Certificate of Good Standing (along with a simple English translation, if the document is not in English).

Like that in other countries, Invention in Oman will be capable of protection if it involves novelty, inventive steps, and is industrially capable. The pre-condition to the protection of invention in Oman, as stated, remains same as in the other countries. Moreover, those inventions, which are contrary to morals or public order, national security, or be incompatible with Sharia Law, Scientific theories, mathematical methods, computer programs, pure mental activities, Plant and animal research, Methods of surgical or medical treatment of human and animal body, will not be granted protection as per the local laws.

Despite the Omani patent legislation, it may be advisable to have a patent also registered at the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Patent Office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. There are few advantages of the same where the biggest advantage is the patent owner protection throughout the member states of the Gulf Co-operation Council i.e., Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. This provides tremendous benefits to inventors and their counsel in terms of simplicity and consistency of filing for patent protection in the GCC.

The application is duly examined after 18 months from the filing date for checking all the required document has been submitted. In case, the formalities are incomplete, the Examiner will give the applicant 60 days from the official notification date to fulfil all requirements, else the application will be deemed to be withdrawn. If all are complete, the applicant can settle the substantive examination fees at the time of filing or at any time within the 18 months from the filing.

For the examination, the application will be examined and the examiner will issue his direction of either amendment of the application, rejection of the applicant or acceptance of the same.  For amendment the applicant has 90 days from the official notification date to reply to proceed with the examination of application. For rejection, the applicant has 15 days from the official notification date to appeal the decision before the Appeal Committee. For acceptance, the applicant has to settle the publication fees to publish the application in the official gazette within 90 days from the official notification date.

(Time Limit may vary. Clients are requested to check the official website or be in touch with our attorney)