The new Lebanese Patent Law No. 240 of August 7, 2000 was published in the Official Gazette No. 35 dated Monday August 14, 2000. This law will take affect as of the publication date. The new law has introduced new filing requirements including an Arabic translation of the patent specification. The patent application should clearly indicate the following:
- Title of the invention.
- Summary of the invention.
- Full description of the invention.
(Detailing the methods to execute the invention, its industrial application, preferably with examples, statistics, etc.)
- Claims.
- Summary of the invention in Arabic.
- Drawings and brief description of the drawings.
- A list of all enclosed documents.
Any patent related to the field of plant varieties or micro-organisms will also have to be submitted to the Ministry of Health within 15 days of the original filing at the Industrial Property Office.
Delay of the publication and issuance of the Letters-patent is possible under the new law upon the request of the applicant. Further, the validity of a patent has been extended to 20 years. Any patents completing their 15 year term this year will be eligible for payment of the 16th annuity next year.
Official fees have increased as one aspect of the change in the new law. Please contact our Lebanon Office or Regional Office in Jordan for more information.