Patent applicants in Oman urged to continue to pay annual fees

Energy Saturday 20/April/2019 20:41 PM
By: Times News Service
Patent applicants in Oman urged to continue to pay annual fees

Muscat: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry urged patent applicants to continue to pay annual fees of their patents and contact Intellectual Property Department to avoid infringement of the right they avail for a patent.
The ministry said that it came to know that most of those who have applied for patents did not make payments on time annually as stipulated in the concerning rules and regulations. In that case they might lose their ownership of the right and any other person can misuse it without consulting the innovator. Also there is no scope of re-activation of the application.
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The Ministry of Commerce and Industry said that the Article 12 of section 2 of the Industrial Property Rights issued under the Royal Decree No. 67 of 2008 stipulated that “the patent holder would pay the fees in advance, gradually increasing, one year after the filing date. This is required to protect the patent right or application of the patent. For the late payment, they have a grace period of 6 months, otherwise the patent application would become null and avoid.”
The article also authorises “the reinstatement of the terminated patent is possible if payment is made within one year after the passage of its last date.”
Ministerial Decision
Article 38 of the section 1 of the executive regulations issued under the Ministerial Decision No. 105 of 2008 stipulated that the right of a patent shall be revoked because of the non-payment of the annual fee in accordance with Article 12 of the Law.
The ministry also that the annual fees must be paid for the duration of 20-years protection period. In that case, the applicant will continue to pay renewal fees after it gets patent rights.