Kuwait: the last GCC member joins the PCT

On June 9, 2016, Kuwait officially acceded to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and became the sixth and the last Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member to enter the treaty.

Kuwait has been bound by the PCT on September 9, 2016, and will be automatically included as a designated office for any international application filed on or after the said date.

However, the Patent Office of Kuwait stopped admitting any patent applications from April 4, 2016. In accordance with the recently adopted Law No.115, applicants should seek patent protection by filing directly with the GCC Patent Office. Therefore, it remains unclear in what way Kuwaiti Patent Office may act as a PCT designated office as it currently does not grant patents. We are awaiting further developments on the matter, and we will keep you updated.

Meanwhile, accession of Kuwait to the PCT gives the entire GCC Patent Office the opportunity to become a PCT designated office in the future. This could significantly facilitate IP protection process in the Gulf region.

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Author: Lynda Miller