In a drive to encourage investment and improve protection for investors, the Libyan Patent Office has now completed accepting and publishing of patents applications filed up to 1995. The pace of work is increasing and it is expected that the Patents filed between 1996 and 2000 should be accepted within the next 4 to 6 months. Once the backlog is cleared letters patent should be issued within 8- 10 months of filing. We encourage all our clients to take advantage of the fact that normalization of operations is underway in Libya and that procedures comply with international requirements.