Benefit from PCT: Ministry tells innovators and entrepreneurs

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MOCI) has invited innovators and entrepreneurs who have new ideas for products with competitive value in the markets to register them so that they can to get benefit of the Sultanate of Oman’s accession to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). The treaty plays major role in protection of innovations in the Sultanate and other signatory countries.

Khalid bin Hamoud al Hinai, Head of Patents and Industrial Designs Section in the Intellectual Property Department of the MOCI, said: “Oman joined the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) in 2001. On June 1, 2016, international applications were received directly in Oman instead of being filed in international bureau in Geneva. The first international patent was granted under the PTC on December 25, 2016. The inventor Ahmad al Sinani got patent for his innovation which was a device for tackling Tsunami waves.

“The PCT helps national patent offices in taking patent-related decisions. It also helps people to get access to the technical details of these innovations by publishing these information at https://patentscope. wipo.int. This helps in taking new technologies to the innovators and makes them get benefit of it in their innovations in these countries. If they apply for patents under PTC, they also apply for their protection in larger number of countries. There are currently 152 signatories of the PTC.”

Al Hinai said the PTC simplifies filing of patent applications and help getting additional time to consider various patent registration options. There is 30 months time from the date of filing of application to enter the national phase or in other words to apply in the countries where the applicant wishes to obtain protection or patents, and establish a solid base for making his or her patent application accepted.

“The applicant can also take advantage of the extra time to further develop or commercialise his invention, consider various other options for patent registration and its exploration, find investors, partners, secure financing and study its commercial potential of the invention,” said Al Hinai.

He said that a patent was an exclusive right granted to an invention which is in the form of a product or process which generally offers a new way of accomplishment of a work or provides a new technical solution to an issue. The patent owner can also authorise third parties to use the invention in accordance with mutually agreed terms.

The patent owner can also sell the right of the invention to another person who becomes the new patent owner. He pointed out that when the patent expires, the protection of the invention goes to the public domain. This means that the invention becomes available to others for commercial use without infringing the patent.

There is no “universal patent” or “international patent” because of territorial rights. These exclusive rights are applied only in the country or region which the patent application specifies in his application and that is in accordance with the law of the country or the region. Therefore, ideally, the applicant should mention the counties where he wants protection for these innovations and file them in the officers of these countries concerned. Patent protection is granted for a limited period of 20 years from the date of filing of application, he said.

European Patent Office and the Gulf Patent Office accept regional patent applications. These applications have the same effect as applications filed or patents granted to member countries in the region.

It means that the patents given in the region would be applicable in all countries of that particular region, he said.

PTC SIMPLIFIES FILING OF PATENT APPLICATIONS AND HELP GETTING MORE TIME TO CONSIDER PATENT REGISTRATION OPTIONS