The Industry and Commerce Ministry yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to apply the fast-track system for technical examination of patents.
It was signed by Minister Abdulla bin Adel Fakhro and Commerce Ministry for Intellectual Property Under-Secretary and US Patent and Trademark Office director Kathy Vidal.
The minister emphasised that thee agreement will further enhance the kingdom’s patents and intellectual property sector.
He highlighted Bahrain’s position in preserving and protecting all types of intellectual property and patent rights, which contributes to increasing the flow of investments.
The agreement comes as part of the plan to develop the regulatory and procedural framework related to the registration of intellectual property and patents in co-operation with the Prime Minister’s Office.
The agreement will enable accelerating technical examination procedures of patent applications, enhancing co-operation with the US Patent Office, exchanging the latest findings on patent applications filed with the Bahrain Patent Office, exchanging expertise in managing patent offices and procedures for examination and grants, raising the quality of the reports of the Bahraini National Office, and preventing conflicts in technical results with major international patent offices. This also includes increasing revenues related to filing patent applications and examining them technically.
The fast-track system, which supports the applicant approved by international patent offices, including the US Patent Office, will accelerate the procedures for granting patents in the kingdom based on the examination reports issued by the five major international government offices proposed to be contracted bilaterally, and through this agreement.
The system also aims to provide an attractive environment for regional and international investments, in addition to enabling the examination of patent applications filed with the Bahrain Patent Office, especially in cases where a specialised patent examiner is not available.
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