RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONIP/C/W/232/Add.3
12 July 2001
(01-3462)
Council for Trade-Related Aspects
of Intellectual Property RightsOriginal:  English
REVIEW OF LEGISLATION
Replies from Kuwait to questions posed by the United States
Addendum
By means of a communication from the Permanent Mission of Kuwait dated 17 June 2001,
the Secretariat has received copies of the following responses to questions posed by the United States,
which were circulated in document IP/C/W/215/Add.1 .
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C. T RADEMARKS
9. Please describe in detail the subject-matter that can comprise a trademark under Kuwait's
trademark law and cite to the relevant provisions of law.
A trademark is any object made of a distinctive shape, whether of words, signatures, letters,
figures, designs symbols, addresses, stamps, pictures, carves or any other mark or partial or total of a
mark, if it is used or intended to be used in distinguishing goods or products for the purpose of
indicating that they are belonging to the owner of the said trademark by the reason of their
manufacture, selection, trading or display for sale.  It is protected by commercial law.
10. Please describe in detail the procedure that must be followed to register a trademark in
Kuwait, citing the relevant provisions of the trademark law and describe the rights that the owner of aregistered mark acquires with registration.
Please see annex 1.
11. Please explain in detail how Kuwait's trademark and other laws provide for the protection of
well-known trademarks and service marks, citing the relevant provisions of law.
Well-known marks are protected under Article 62 of Law No. 1/ 2001 (see annex 2).  Service
marks are protected under Article 3 of the Ministerial Act No. 8 / 1995, also considered in Article 61
of Law No. 1 / 2001 (see annex 3)
12. Please describe in detail any limitations or special requirements that apply to trademark
rights under Kuwait's laws and indicate how those limitations take account of the legitimate interests
of the owner of the trademark and of third parties.
[No response received.]IP/C/W/232/Add.3
Page 2
13. Please indicate the length of the initial term  of protection for a registered trademark under
Kuwait's trademark law and describe the conditions for renewing the registration and the period of
the renewal.  Please cite to the relevant provisions of Kuwait's law.
An application of renewal must be submitted to the elapse of ten years during the last year of
protection (Article 77 of Law No. 68 / 1980 and Article 77, para. 2 of Law No. 1 / 2001) (see
annex 4).
D. G EOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS
14. Please describe in detail how and under what laws geographical indications are protected in
Kuwait and cite to the relevant provisions of law.
Geographical indications are protected under Article 62 of Law No. 1 / 2001 (see annex 2).
15. Does the law of Kuwait regarding geographical indications provide for any of the exceptions
to protection of geographical indications contained in Article 24 of the TRIPS Agreement, and, if so,
please describe the way in which the exception is applied and cite to the relevant provisions of law.
Please see annex 2.
E. I NDUSTRIAL DESIGNS
16. Please describe in detail the way in which industrial designs, including textile designs, are
protected under Kuwait's laws and cite to the relevant provisions of law.
Please see annex 5.
F. P ATENTS
17. Please explain whether or not inventions within the categories specified below are eligible to
be patented under Colombian law if they are otherwise novel, involve an inventive step, and are
industrially applicable:
(a) process inventions which, in whole or in part, consist of steps that are performed by a
computer and are directed by a computer program;
(b) product inventions consisting of elements of a computer-implemented invention
including:
(i) machine-readable computer program code stored on a tangible medium such
as a floppy disk, computer hard drive or computer memory;  or
(ii) a general purpose computer whose novelty over the prior art arises primarily
due to its combination with a specific computer program;
(c) process inventions that facilitate the conduct of business;
(d) a micro-organism.
[No response received.]
18. Please identify any exceptions to the rights conferred by a patent in Kuwait and indicate the
manner in which the law of Kuwait ensures that such exceptions do not unreasonably conflict with aIP/C/W/232/Add.3
Page 3
normal exploitation of the patent and do not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the
patent owner, taking account of the legitimate interests of third parties.
[No response received.]
19. Please describe any provisions for compulsory licensing of patents in Kuwait's law and
explain how Kuwait ensures that each of the conditi ons in Article 31 of the TRIPS Agreement is met in
relation to any compulsory licences.  Please cite to the relevant provisions of law.
Law No. 4 / 1962, Article 29 states:
"Where the invention is not utilized in Kuwait w ithin three years from the date of granting of
the patent, or where the owner is unable to utilize it adequately to meet the needs of the
country, or where the utilization of the invention has been stopped for a minimum period of
two consecutive years, the Trademarks Control Office may grant a compulsory licence for the
utilization of the invention to any person to whom  the patent owner has refused to transfer the
right of utilization or has made such transfer conditional upon the fulfilment of exorbitant
financial terms.
The compulsory licence shall be granted on condition that the applicant is able to utilize the
invention effectively, and the patent owner shall be entitled to a suitable compensation.  The
Trademarks Control Office shall forward a copy of the application to the patent owner who
shall submit to the Control Office, within the period specified in the regulations, a written
reply to the application.  Where the reply is not received within the prescribed period, the
Trademarks Control Office shall issue its decision regarding the acceptance or the rejection of
the application.
The Control Office may make its acceptance subject to such conditions as it may deem
necessary and its decision shall be challengeable before the court within a period of thirty
days from the date of its notification to the person concerned."
20.-22. [No responses received.]
23. Please describe in detail the manner in which plant varieties are protected under Kuwait's
laws and cite to the relevant provisions.
Please see annex 6.IP/C/W/232/Add.3
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ANNEX 1
Article 66
Any application for a Trade Mark Registration shall be submitted to the Department of the Trade
Mark Registration, in conformity with the formalit ies and conditions provided for in the implementing
Regulations of this Register.
Article 3 of Ministerial Act No. 8 / 1995
The application for registration shall incorporate the following particulars:
a. The name of the applicant and his surname, occupation and trade name, if any.  If the
applicant is a company, the name of the company, its address, the place of its registered office
and its objects shall be stated.
b. The nationality of the applicant and his place of business.c. The mark required to be registered.
d. Statement of the goods, products or services for which registration of the mark is required
along with the number of class of goods related thereto.
e. The territory where the business or the exploitation project the goods or products of which are
distinguished or are to be distinguished by the mark is situated.
f. If the application is made by an agent, his name, surname and address should be stated.g. Elected domicile of the applicant in the State of Kuwait to which all correspondence and
documents pertinent to registration should be sent.
h. The signature, seal or thumb-print of the party concerned or that thereunto by him authorized.
If the applicant is a company or a society, the papers shall be signed by that entitled in
accordance with its memorandum of association and articles of association to sign on its
behalf.IP/C/W/232/Add.3
Page 5
ANNEX 2
Article 62 of Law No. 1/ 2001
[Shall not be trade mark, nor shall be registered as such, a mark that:
1. does not distinguish the products or services of any firm from those of other firms;2. is contrary to public order or public morality;3. is likely to mislead the public or commercial circles, especially as to the geographic origin of
the products or services concerned, or as to their nature of characteristics;
4. corresponds to an honorary emblem, a flag, or other emblem, a name, an abbreviated name,
initials, an official sign or acknowledge emblem of any state, inter-governmental organization or an
organization established by an international agreement; or is an imitation thereof of a component part,unless authorized by the competent authorities of that state or organization;
5. is identical, or similar to the point of confusion, with another mark or trade name well-known
in the State of Kuwait, or amounts to a translation thereto, in respect to identical or similar goods and
services of another firm; or denotes goods or services which, although not identical or similar, its useis likely to suggest a connection between the mark  and another well-known mark or trade name in a
manner that might prejudice the owner of the [that] mark;
6. is identical with the mark of another owner that  has been registered or applied for prior to the
application for the registration of the mark concerned, as to the date of submission or that of priorityconcerning the same goods or services or concerning closely related goods or services, or is similar to
an extent that might be misleading or confusing.]IP/C/W/232/Add.3
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ANNEX 3
Article 61 of Law No. 1 / 2001
[A trademark is anything which takes a distinctive form, including words, signatures, letters, numbers,
drawings, symbols, titles, seals, pictures, engravin gs, graphic components or colour composition; any
other mark perceptible by sight, sound or smell; or any other mark or a collection thereof, if such are
used or intended to be used to distinguish goods, products or services in order to indicate that they
belong to the owner of the mark because he manufactures them, selects them, trades in them or
displays them for sale.]
Article 3 of Ministerial Act No. 8 / 1995
The application for registration shall incorporate the following particulars:
a. The name of the applicant and his surname, occupation and trade name, if any.  If the
applicant is a company, the name of the company, its address, the place of its registered office
and its objects shall be stated.
b. The nationality of the applicant and his place of business.
c. The mark required to be registered.d. Statement of the goods, products or services for which registration of the mark is required
along with the number of class of goods related thereto.
e. The territory where the business or the exploitation project the goods or products of which are
distinguished or are to be distinguished by the mark is situated.
f. If the application is made by an agent, his name, surname and address should be stated.
g. Elected domicile of the applicant in the State of Kuwait to which all correspondence and
documents pertinent to registration should be sent.
h. The signature, seal or thumb-print of the party concerned or that thereunto by him authorized.
If the applicant is a company or a society, the papers shall be signed by that entitled inaccordance with its memorandum of association and articles of association to sign on its
behalf.IP/C/W/232/Add.3
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ANNEX 4
Article 77 of Law No. 68 / 1980
1. The Protection Period of the Mark resulting from its registration is ten years, and the person
entitled to it shall have the right to secure the continuation of such protection for any new periods if he
applies for renewal within the last year under the formalities and the conditions provided for in
Article 66 hereof.  Within the month following the expiry of the protection period, the registrar shall
notify the owner of the Mark in writing of the expiration of its protection period, at the address
recorded in the Register.  If the owner of the Mark  fails to submit an application for renewal within a
lapse of three months following the expiry date of the protection period, the Registrar shall on his ownaccord cancel the Mark from the Register.
Article 77, para. 2 of Law No. 1 / 2001
[2. Within the month following the termination of the period of protection, the Registrar shall
notify the owner of the mark in writing that the pe riod of its protection has ended; such notification
being sent to him at the address entered in the Regi ster.  Should six months pass following the date of
the end of the period of protection without the owner of the mark presenting an application for
renewal, the Registrar shall automatically delete the mark from the Register.]IP/C/W/232/Add.3
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ANNEX 5
PART TWO
DESIGNS AND INDUSTRIAL MODELS
(Article 35)
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 orchemical process shall be considered a design or industrial model.IP/C/W/232/Add.3
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ANNEX 6
Article 2. – A patent of invention shall not be granted in respect of the following:
1. inventions, the exploitation of which is against morality or public policy [ public order ];
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 an imal body; with the exception of products for
use in any of those methods.
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