Thursday 26 / December / 2024
Muscat: The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion signed a cooperation agreement with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) to establish centres to support technology and innovation in the Sultanate of Oman.
This came on the sidelines of the Sultanate’s participation in the 62nd meetings of the assemblies of member states of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), which was held from 4-8 October, 2021, in Geneva, Switzerland. The Omani side was chaired by His Excellency Dr Saleh Masn, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and Investment Promotion for Commerce and Industry, with the participation of a number of officials in the Ministry.
WIPO's Technology and Innovation Support Centres (TISCs) programme provides innovators in member countries with access to local technology information and related services, helping them to harness their innovative potential and create, protect and manage their intellectual property rights. The agreement also includes access to patent and non-patent electronic resources (scientific and technical) and intellectual property-related publications, assistance in searching and retrieving technological information, training in database search and on-demand searches (modernity, state of the art and infringement) and monitoring of technology and competitors, in addition to basic information on industrial property laws, management and strategies, technology exploitation and commercialisation.
His Excellency also delivered the Sultanate’s speech during the meetings, in which he confirmed that the Sultanate of Oman has made positive progress in terms of cooperation activities with the organisation by joining many international agreements related to intellectual property, the latest of which was the Geneva Convention of the Lisbon Agreement, through which the Sultanate seeks to protect its geographical indications, the most important of which are (Omani frankincense, Omani Halwa, Omani ships, Omani dagger). It is worth noting that the Sultanate is one of the first Arab countries to work on this project, as well as the Omani version of the general course on intellectual property (DL101).
The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion for Trade and Industry explained that the Sultanate changed the name of the Intellectual Property Department to the National Intellectual Property Office this year.
It is worth noting that the Sultanate advanced eight positions in the Global Innovation Index for the current year 2021, to rank 76 globally, sixth in the Arab world, and fifth in the Gulf.
