RESTRICTED WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONIP/C/W/232/Add.1
13 June 2001
(01-2929)
Council for Trade-Related Aspects
of Intellectual Property RightsOriginal:  English
REVIEW OF LEGISLATION
Replies from Kuwait to certain outstanding questions posed by Canada,
the European Communities and their member States and Switzerland
Addendum
By means of a communication from the Permanent Mission of Kuwait dated 11 June 2001,
the Secretariat has received copies of the following responses to certain outstanding questions posed
by Canada, the European Communities and their member States and Switzerland in the November
2000 review, which were circulated in documents IP/C/W/225, 219 and 207 respectively, togetherwith additional information on implementation of the Kuwaiti law on copyright and related rights.
_______________
CANADA
1. We understand that draft legislation is pending approval by Kuwait’s National Assembly on
trademark and patent issues.
(a) When are these draft amendmen ts likely to be implemented?
Since January 2001.(b) What are the key improvements introduced by such legislation in respect of TRIPS 
obligations?
The key improvements introduced by such legislation in respect of TRIPS obligations are:
(i) Trademark: Articles 61, 62, 77 (paragraph 2), 82(ii) Patent: Articles 2, 12, 13, 23, 42 (first and second paragraphs), 43, 46 (first
paragraph).
2. What protection does your copyright legislation afford to "foreign works"?
[No reply received]
3. Please describe the way that the enforcement of intellectual property rights has been
implemented (Articles 41-61 of the TRIPS Agreement).
[No reply received]IP/C/W/232/Add.1
Page 2
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES AND THEIR MEMBER STATES1
C. T RADEMARKS
10. Please confirm whether or not services are a protectable subject matter in your trademark
law.  Please confirm if signs, such as trade names, are protectable.  Please describe if elements suchas sound, perfumes and containers are protectable.
Services:  a trademark related to a service is protected under Article 3 of the Ministerial Act
No. 8 of 1995.  It is also considered in Article 3 of Law Amendment No. 1 of 2001.
Perfume container: protected under industrial designs.
Tradenames: protected under Article 62 of Law No. 1 of 2001: "Shall not be trademark, nor
shall be registered as such, , a mark that is: identical or similar to the point of confusion, with
another mark or tradename well-known in the State of Kuwait, or amounts to a translationthereto, with respect to identical or similar goods and services of another firm; or denotes
goods or services which, although not identical or similar, its use is likely to suggest a
connection between the mark and another  well-known mark or tradename in a manner that
might prejudice the owner of the (that) mark."
D. G
EOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS
14. Please explain whether or not your trademark registration authority refuses a trademark
application if it contains a geographical indication.
Trademark which causes misleading to a geographical indication shall not be registered.
E. I NDUSTRIAL DESIGNS
19. Please explain whether or not your legislation extends to the protection of designs dictated
essentially by technical or functional considerations.  Please explain how textile designs are
protected.
Article 35 of Law No. 4 of 1962 states:
"For the purpose of the application of this law, any arrangement of lines or any type of figure,
whether coloured or uncoloured, designed for use in industrial production by a mechanical,manual or chemical process shall be considered as a design or industrial model."
• Technical or functional considerations not covered by the law.
• Textile designs are protected under Article 35 mentioned above.
20. Please explain how your legislation protects right holders of a design against importing of
articles bearing embodied or copied design.
In case of importing copied designs, judicial procedures enable authorities towards protection.
21. Please state whether or not your legislati on provides for the right to issue a compulsory
licence for industrial designs.
                                                     
1 These replies supplement those provided by Kuwait to questions posed by the European Communities
and their member States and circulated in document IP/C/W/232.IP/C/W/232/Add.1
Page 3
Yes, our legislation provides for the rights to issue a compulsory licence for industrial
designs.
22. Please indicate for what period of time y our legislation grants protection for industrial
designs.
The period of protection is five years starting from the date of the application.  The period is
renewable another two successive periods by submitting an application of renewal during the last year
of protection.
F. P ATENTS
24. Please explain whether or not in your legisl ation, patent or otherwise, patent rights are
enjoyed without any exclusions.  If exclusions are provided for, please describe in detail how these
exclusions are applied in legal as well as practical terms.
Article 2: "Patents shall not be granted in respect of the following: inventions whose
utilization results in a breach of morality or public policy."
25. Please explain whether your legislation provides for the exclusion of inventions from
patentability based on ordre public or morality.  If so, please explain the relevant section of your
legislation and explain its formulation.  Please also explain if it has been applied in practice.
Article 2: "Patents shall not be granted in respect of the following: inventions whose
utilization results in a breach of morality or public policy."
26. Please explain whether or not diagnostic, therapeutic and surgical methods are excluded
from patentability in your legislation.  If so, please explain the relevant section of your legislation and
explain its formulation.
Not excluded.
27. Please explain whether or not plants, animals and essentially biological processes are
excluded from patentability in your legislation.  If so, please explain the relevant section of your
legislation and explain its formulation.
Patents shall not be granted in respect of the following: plant varieties, animal species, or
processes used for the production of plants or animals, other than microbiological processes and theproducts of such processes.
28. Please describe how micro-organisms, non-essentially biological processes, microbiological
processes and plant varieties are protected in your legislation.  Please explain, in this respect, the
relevant sections of your legislation.
Patents shall not be granted in respect of the following: plant varieties, animal species, or
processes used for the production of plants or animals, other than microbiological processes and the
products of such processes.
29. Please explain how your legislation protects patent right holders against the importing and
against the offering for sale of a patented invention.
The following shall be punished with imprisonment not exceeding one year and a fine not
exceeding five thousand Dinars, or either of the two penalties: any person who knowingly sells or
offers for sale or exchange, or imports or acquires with the intention of trading, imitated products orIP/C/W/232/Add.1
Page 4
materials on which appears an imitated design or industrial model where such invention, design or
model is registered in Kuwait.
30. Please state if your legislation provides fo r patent product protection of pharmaceutical and
agricultural chemical products.  In the affirmative, please indicate the legal reference.
Article 2 of Law No. 3 of 2001: "a patent shall not be granted in respect of the following:
methods for treatment of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy, as well as diagnostic
methods practised on the human or animal body; with the exception of products for use in any of
those methods."
33. Please describe if your legislation provides for limited exceptions to the exclusive rights
conferred by a patent.  If affirmative, please make a reference to relevant legislation.
[No reply submitted]
37. Please explain how your legislation provides for the enhanced patent protection of patents or
patent applications pending on 1 January 1995.
Reply to this question is under process with relevant authorities.
38. Please explain how your legislation provides for the reversal of the burden of proof in
relation to process patents.
Not specified in legislation.
G. L AYOUT -DESIGNS (TOPOGRAPHIES ) OF INTEGRATED CIRCUITS
39. Please describe how your legislation protects topographies.
Article IV of Law No. 3 of 2001: "shall be added to the end of the title of part two of
Law No. 4 of 1962 referred to herein the wording 'and integrated circuits', as well as to any article of
the said law where the wording 'designs and industrial models (industrial designs)' is mentioned."
40. Please explain what protection your national legislation grants to right holders against the
unlawful importation, sale or distribution for commercial purposes of topographies including
integrated circuits or other articles in which a topography is incorporated in accordance with
Article 36 of the TRIPS Agreement.
Penalties applied on patents also applied on layout-designs.
41. Please explain how your legislation provides for the derogation from Article 36 as specified
in Article 37 of the TRIPS Agreement where a person has no knowledge or reasonable grounds to
know when acquiring an integrated circuit or an article incorporating such an integrated circuit that
it contains an unlawful topography.
 Article 46 of Law No. 4 of 1962: "shall be punished with imprisonment not exceeding one
year and a fine not exceeding five thousand Dinars, or either of the two penalties: Any person who
knowingly sells or offers for sale or exchange, or imports or acquires with the intention of trading,imitated products or materials on which appears an imitated design or industrial model where such
invention, design or model is registered in Kuwait".
42. Please state the term of protection granted by your legislation to topographies.IP/C/W/232/Add.1
Page 5
Article IV of Law No. 3 of 2001: "shall be added to the end of the title of part two of Law
No. 4 of 1962 referred to herein the wording 'and integrated circuits' as well as to any article of the
said law where the wording 'designs and industrial models (industrial designs)' is mentioned."
I. E NFORCEMENT
52. Please explain if and how judges have the authority to order than infringing goods are placed
outside channels of commerce or destroyed.
[No reply submitted]
57. Please quote what provisions of your legislation authorize the competent authorities to order
the destruction or disposal of infringing goods.
[No reply submitted]
58. Please indicate whether or not your legislation provides for a de minimis imports exception.
[No reply submitted]
59. Please explain how your legislation impl ements Article 61 of the TRIPS Agreement.
[No reply submitted]
SWITZERLAND2
A. P ATENTS
1. Are all categories of products subject to patent protection under your law or are there any
exceptions.  If so, please explain in detail what these exceptions are and how they apply.
"Patents shall not be granted in respect of the following:
1. inventions, the exploitation of which, is against morality or public policy;2. discoveries, theories, mathematical methods and computer programs;
3. schemes, rules or methods for doing business, performing purely mental acts or
playing games;
4. plant varieties, animal species or processes used for the production of plants or
animals, other than microbiological processes and the products of such processes;
5. methods for treatment of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy, as well as
diagnostic methods practised on the human or animal body, with the exception of
products for use in any of those methods."
B. P
ROTECTION OF UNDISCLOSED INFORMATION
4. Please explain in detail if your legislation ensures that undisclosed and confidential test data
or other data submitted by an applicant to the responsible State agency in the procedure for market
                                                     
2 These replies supplement those provided by Kuwait to questions posed by Switzerland and circulated
in document IP/C/W/232.IP/C/W/232/Add.1
Page 6
authorization of a pharmaceutical or of an agricultural chemical product is protected against
disclosure and against unfair commercial use by a competitor, for example by prohibiting a second
applicant from relying on, or from referring to the original data of the first applicant, when applying
subsequently for market authorization for his own product. Does your legislation provide for
exceptions to this? If yes, under what conditions would such exceptions apply?
Not available.  But will be taken into consideration in a new law amendment.IP/C/W/232/Add.1
Page 7
ANNEX
Achievements of the Ministry of Information in its implementation of
the Kuwaiti Intellectual Property Law No. 64/1999 (Copyright and Related Rights)
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1. Subsequent to its joining of WIPO in 1998, Kuwait issued Law No. 64/1999 on the protection
of intellectual property rights, on 9 January 2000.
2. Ministerial Act No. 106/2000 was issued conferring legal apprehension capacity on a number
of inspectors at the Ministry of Information.
3. The Ministry has published warning advertisements on television and local newspapers aimed
at ministries, companies and individuals on the importance of adhering to the law and discarding
illegitimate copies of software programs.  That, in addition to the continuous written warnings the
Ministry has sent to violating companies.
4. In cooperation with WIPO and the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Information has
organized a training workshop for the Kuwaiti Judiciary on copyright and related rights, on 18-21
November 2000.
5. The Ministry of Information has also organized a training workshop for the employees at the
Artistic Works Department who has legal apprehension capacity.
6. Arising from its conviction of the importance of this law, the Ministry has participated in a
number of international events (conferences, workshops) on intellectual property, covering such
topics as the rights of the author and related rights, piracy, satellite channels and intellectual property,etc. in Lebanon, Egypt, Italy, Geneva , United Arab Emirates and Azerbaijan.
7. In May 2001, at the Azerbaijan Conference on Intellectual Property organized by the
Azerbaijan Government, WIPO and ISESCO, the latest BSA piracy rates showed Kuwait with a 7%
decrease in piracy activities for the year 2000.  This percentage was one of the greatest declines in
piracy rates among countries cited.
8. In addition to the ongoing inspections and raids campaigns by the Ministry of Information
inspectors against violators of the law.
Following is a list of the items seized up until May 2001:
Video cassettes 110,792
Audio cassettes 47,103
Computer CDs 48,426
Video Games (Playstation) CDs 52,414
Decoder cards (Smart cards) 170
Decoder sets 31
Street Vendor Video Cassettes 44,473
That, in addition to 24 businesses that have had legal action taken against them due to their
sale of illegitimate copies of software.
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