The meeting of President Mubarak of Egypt and Dr. Kamel Idris, WIPO Director General, enforced the efforts towards Egypt’s adoption of modern intellectual property laws. Further discussion of the intellectual property subject by ministers and experts in the field resulted in the formation of a non-governmental body with the name of Center for Intellectual Property Studies, expected to play an important role in modernizing the intellectual property system in Egypt.
The draft trademark law of Egypt has been approved by the Council of Ministers and is currently undergoing discussions at the People’s Assembly and the Advisory (Shoura) Council. Supporters of the law say that it has been delayed and steps should be taken to accelerate its adoption and application. Some see the law as a necessity due to the fact that Egypt signed the GATT Agreement and estimate that it contains all the elements which render it TRIPs-compliant. The draft patent law provides for a wider coverage which includes nutrient chemical products, medicaments, microorganisms, microbiological, non-biological, and biological processes used in connection with animals and plants. Still Article 2 of the draft law denies patents to be granted to a number of exceptions including inventions which prejudice national security, scientific findings and theories, methods of diagnosis, plants and animals, live organs and genome.
Article 11 of the draft law guaranteed the right of the patentee in preventing others from exploiting the invention in any manner. Article 14 imposed the principle that the patentee is under the obligation to disclose all information, secrets, and technical know-how relating to the invention in order to enable others to work the invention at the end of the period of protection. The draft patent law included, for the firs time, the principle of pre-examination of the invention. Article 18 provides for the examination of a patent application as to substance and to document innovation and the inventive step.
Utility models are provided for in the draft law for every new addition in the appearance, formation, means, tools, and parts of the products, preparations, or production methods. Converting the same to a patent application in the event all the conditions are fulfilled is a right vested in the applicant and the patent office. Article 31 provides for a protection period of a utility model for seven years renewable upon fulfilling the conditions in Article 35 of the TRIPs Agreement.
In countries where Egypt is entitled to reciprocity, Article 39 of the draft patent law authorizes an applicant in one of the GATT member states to submit a similar application to the patent office in Egypt within the second year of submitting the application in a foreign country.
In line with the grace period available for developing countries as regards nutrients and pharmaceutical products, Article 44 of the draft patent law provides for the concept of the "mail box" with retroactive effect (TRIPs date of January 1995). Thus the examination procedures may start on January 1, 2005 while the protection period of such inventions would begin on the application date and continue for the remainder of this period.
Under the draft copyright law, the author shall have the option of presenting his work to the public through a suitable means, including computer, the Internet, information, and telecommunications. The draft law provides for compulsory licensing regarding copying and translation but leaves it to the implementing regulations of the law to define the relevant conditions of granting licenses in compliance with the Bern Convention to which Egypt is a member.
The draft copyright law also refers to the general principle that gives every person the right to have a copy of the copyrighted work for one’s personal use. The draft law accounts for new crimes relating to modern technology used in committing such crimes. Therefore, the law prohibits manufacturing, importing, selling, or renting of any apparatus, device, or tool designed or prepared to infringe on the right of author or owner of the copyrighted work.