Industrial designs to receive five years copyright protection in Oman
MUSCAT: Oman is planning to pay significant attention to all aspects of intellectual property through drafting the required regulations and laws to ensure industrial development has the required impact and safeguard intellectual property rights.
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MOCI) pointed out that the period of industrial design protection is five years starting from the date the application of the submission to the ministry after paying fees.
According to Nidaa Yaqub Al Tamimi, a patent inspection specialist at MOCI, the dues can be paid during a period of six months after submitting the application. Failure to do so will see the industrial design registration cancelled.
“The fees have been reduced to OMR100 for school, college and university students and researchers and to OMR500 for SMEs,” she said. “The fees for the Industrial Design Certificates are reduced to OMR50 for college and university students and researchers and OMR250 for SMEs.” “Internationally, industrial design protection application can be submitted according to the Hague Convention that Oman has joined on December 4, 2008. To have the application accepted, the design should be new and must not have been published or used anywhere else before.” property, as these designs have significance in distinguishing the different products, commodities and goods,” she explained. “They contribute to the success of the product in markets.