Trademarks are the most valuable and widely used form of intellectual property, and they may be registered in Kuwait. The protection of trademarks is governed by articles 61 to 85 of the Commercial Code, as amended by Decreed Law #3 of 1999. A Trademarks Register, open to public inspection, is maintained in the Patent & Trademark Department at the Ministry of Commerce & Industry. Under the new law, the definition of a trade mark extends to Audio/Visual marks. The person who registers a trademark is considered the sole owner with the exclusive right to use the mark on the products for which it is registered irrespective of nationality. Registration initially protects a mark for ten years from the date of application to register. Registration can be renewed indefinitely for further periods of ten years each. The registrar must notify the owner that the period of protection has expired within one month of expiry and if the owner does not apply for renewal within six months of expiry, the mark is automatically deleted from the register. If a trademark has not been used for a five-year period, an interested party can apply to the mark on the goods for which it is registered, third party can therefore be prevented from using the mark on competing products. A trademark may be sold but the change in ownership must be entered in the Register and published in the official gazette. A person who infringes a registered trademark is liable to a fine of KD 600 or imprisonment or both, and to pay compensation.

An application must be submitted in Arabic to the Trademark Control Office along with a fee of KD 24. Once accepted, it will be advertised in three consecutive issues of the official gazette. Any other claimant has 30 days after the third advertisement to challenge the registration in writing. The registrar must give a copy of the objections to the applicant, who has 30 days to submit a reply. In case of a deadlock, the legal proceedings move to courts. The control office is not a court of law and cannot turn down or reject an application without reason.

Patents are protected against unauthorised use for an initial period of ten years; they then may be registered for a further five years only. There are special arrangements for food and drugs manufacturing processes, where the patents are limited to the initial ten-year period. A KD 10 fee is payable for filing a patent. It is possible for patents to be licensed.

Under Law 4 of 1962, a patent may be issued for any new invention suitable for industrial use which has not been used in Kuwait during the previous 20 years. Kuwaiti nationals, foreign residents, foreign businessmen with a local presence and foreigners in countries that grant reciprocal rights to Kuwaitis, have the right to be granted patents in Kuwait.

All documents for filing a patent application, including the specifications of the invention, must be in Arabic. Under Law 4 of 1962 patent holders are protected against unauthorised use of their invention or design for an initial period of 15 years, renewable for a further 5 years. Under the new law the period of protection will be 20 years, though patents registered in other countries will only be granted protection for the remainder of the period of protection where they are registered. The new law also extends the period of protection for drawings, models and integrated circuits from 5 years to 10 years, which may be renewed for a further 5 years. The law will, in addition, allow improved versions of existing patents to be protected for 7 years.

Until 1999 there was no general copyright law under which the rights in intellectual works could be protected effectively. The only protected works were audio and visual recordings of Kuwaiti, Arab, American and British origin. In addition, public institutions were not allowed to buy pirated computer softwares. Though, a number of companies have been able to implement copyright protocols and make it very difficult for copies to be made freely available in the open market. An example of this is Microsoft effectively being able to ban copies of their range of software. Except for trademarks, the protection of intellectual property rights in Kuwait was quite poor until 1999 when, to satisfy Kuwait's obligations under World Trade Organisation agreements, comprehensive legislation to protect intellectual property was promulgated by Amiri Decree under article 71 of the constitution. These laws were approved by the National Assembly on 23rd December 1999 as law number 64/1999 governing Intellectual Property Rights.

certification. 67 major companies in Kuwait had the certification by the end of year 2001. The lack of interest in certification is attributed to the ignorance of its benefits. However, this may change when more Arab countries join the World Trade Organisation.