A new law on patents and utility models was issued in Bahrain. The Law No. 1 of the year 2004 was published in the Official Gazette No. 2619 dated January 28, 2004.
The 46-article Law provides protection for patents of invention and utility models as opposed to the previous Law, which only provided protection for patents of invention.
As per Articles (14 & 15) of the Law, a patent is valid for twenty years starting from the date of filing the application. A fee shall be paid on filing a patent application. A progressive annual fee shall also be paid as of the second year, until the expiration of the patent protection period.
The protection period of a utility model shall be 10 years, starting from the filing date of the application.
According to Article (22), the right to a patent may be assigned or licensed. An assignment shall have no effect against third parties unless it has been recorded at the Patent Office and published in the Official Gazette.
Infringement of the rights of a patentee is punishable under the provisions of the new Patent Law. Any person who commits one of the offences stated in Article (41) of the law, shall be penalized by imprisonment of not less than three months and not more than one year, and/or a fine of not less than 500 dinars and not exceeding 2000 dinars.
It is worth noting that the Minister of Commerce shall issue the regulations and decisions necessary to implement the provisions of the Law herein.