WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONIP/C/W/282/Add.4
12 September 2002
(02-4832)
Council for Trade-Related Aspects
of Intellectual Property RightsOriginal:  English
REVIEW OF LEGISLATION
Responses from Oman to follow-up questions posed by Switzerland
Addendum
By means of a communication from the Permanent Mission of Oman, dated 21 June 2002, the
Secretariat has received the following responses to follow-up questions posed by Switzerland, as
circulated in document IP/C/W/263/Add.1.  These questions follow up Oman's responses to initialquestions, circulated in document IP/C/W/282/Add.1
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A. P
ATENTS
Ad response to question 3:
You mention that according to Article (15)/c [of the Patent Law No. 82/2000], "import of
the produce shall not be deemed a legitimate reason to prevent the issue of the obligatory
authorisation".  Please explain how this comp lies with Article 27.1 of the TRIPS Agreement,
which provides that patent rights shall be enjoyable without discrimination as to whetherproducts are imported or locally produced.
In referring to TRIPS Agreement Article 27/ 1 and the Oman Law in relation to patents
promulgated by Royal Decree No. 82/2000 it has become clear that Article 27/1 of TRIPS do notcontradict with Article 15/c of the Patent law as Article 27/1 deals with the Patent Law and the
patentable materials in general while the Article 15/c of the patent law deals with obtaining the
compulsory licence in exploiting the patent and the importation is not considered as legal reason to
grant the compulsory licence.
Ad response to question 4:
Please explain how your legislation implements the conditions set out in Article 31(a) to
(l) of the TRIPS Agreement.  Please cite the relevant provisions of your law.
The patent laws, promulgated by Royal Decree No. 82/2000 addressed the compulsory
licensee within Articles 15, 16, 18, 19 and Article 20 as follows:
Article (15):  Three years after awarding the patent, whomever is concerned, may request a
compulsory licence to utilize the inve ntion for any of the following reasons:IP/C/W/282/Add.4
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(i) Non-utilization of the patent activity and seriously within three years, from
date of its award.
(ii) Suspension of the utilization of the invention protected by the patent, by the
patent holder from two consecutive years.
(iii) The patent holders refusal to grant a licence contract for the utilization of the
patent, which may impact the establishment or development, of industrial or
commercial activities in the sultanate of Oman.
In all cases the compulsory licence may not be issued if patent holder justified his position.
The import of the product shall not be deemed a legitime excuse.  However the decision awarding the
compulsory licence is issued by the Minister and the patent holder may complain such decision before
the committee provided for in Article (7) in accordance with the conditions and regulations is
stipulated in bylaws.
Article (16):  Compulsory licence grants the licensee the right to carry on all or some of the
activities entrusted to the patent holder according to the licence conditions excluding the right to
import the product.  The licence holder may however use the civil and penal rights of the patent
holder to protect and utilize the invention in the event of failure despite of being notified.
Article (17):  Compulsory licence to utilize an invention may not be awarded until after the
licence applicant submits a proof of notifying the patent holder, by registered mail, of the request to
obtain a licence, and not arriving to an agreement within the timeframe stipulated in the bylaws.
Article (18): Compulsory licence shall be awarded only to the applicant who provides
necessary guarantees that the invention will be fully utilized to deal with the shortage, or meet the
requirements, that have led to requesting the compulsory licence.  It is not permitted for those who
have been awarded a compulsory licence to assign the patent, or its use, to other.  The Minister may
cancel the licence if the licensee violates the licence conditions, or if the reasons justifying its awardhave been removed.  The licensee may complain against this decision before the committee, as
stipulated in Article (7), and in  accordance with the conditions and regulations stipulated  in the
bylaws.
The compulsory licence may not be assigned except with the enterprise of the licensee or the
part of such enterprise, which exploit the invention, provided that such assignment is by approval of
the Minister, otherwise is shall be null.
Article (19):  Compulsory licences, and whatever decisions, verdicts and related applications,
shall be registered in a special register at the department, in accordance with the conditions and
regulations stipulated in the bylaws.
Article (20):  Whoever is concerned may apply to the competent court to revoke the patent, or
the compulsory licence, if:
(i) The patent, certificate of licence was awarded without the provisions of the
conditions stipulated in this law, or its bylaws.
(ii) The patent certificate or licence was awarded without taking into
consideration the priority of previous applications.
The patent, compulsory licence holder, and whomever's right has been suspended should be
notified of the date of the court session.IP/C/W/282/Add.4
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In the event of a verdict to revoke, then it should be registered in the special register, and
made public as stipulated in the bylaws.
B. PROTECTION OF UNDISCLOSED INFORMATION
Ad response to question 6:
Referring to the issue of unfair commercial use of data submitted by an applicant to
the responsible State Agency in the procedure for market authorisation of a pharmaceutical or
of an agricultural chemical product, please explain in detail if your legislation explicitly
prohibits a second applicant from relying on, or fr om referring to, the original data of the first
applicant, when applying subsequently for market authorisation for his own product.  Does the
responsible State Agency require the same amount of data from the second applicant as fromthe first applicant?  Does your legislation set a specific term of protection for undisclosed test or
other data of the first applicant?
Protection of trade secrets
Article (34):  of the Law on Trademarks, Indications and Secrets and Protection against
Unfair Competition promulgated by Royal Decree No. 38/2000, provides as follows:
Any natural person or legal entity may not disclose trade secrets in his or its possession in a
manner that is contrary to honest practice in trade.  A commercial or industrial activity shall beconsidered secret if, due to its nature, it is  not known, it draws its commercial value from its
confidentiality, reasonable measures have been taken to maintain its confidentiality or it is not easily
accessible to an ordinary person having skill in the art.
Disclosure shall include making use of information, tests or other secret information
presented to competent authorities in order to obtain a marketing authorization necessary for
pharmaceuticals and agricultural products containing new chemical material provided that a tangible
effort was furnished to obtain such products.
The second part of the question concerning the competent government agency, which may
require the same quantity of data from the second applicant as from the first applicant, will  be
addressed by the executive regulations when issued.
As to the last part of the question regarding the protection period of secret test or other data of
the first applicant, there is no protection period specified in  aforesaid law.
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