Intellectual Property

 Historical Background

The Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization ("WTO") was made on April 15, 1994 at the Uruguay round of multilateral trade negotiations. The scope of the WTO is described in Article 11 which states that the WTO shall provide the common institutional framework for the conduct of trade relations among its members in matters related to the agreements and associated legal instruments included in the Annexes to the Agreement.

There are four main Annexes to the Agreement. Annex 1C pertains to the Agreement on Trade-related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights ("TRIPS Agreement").

The special 301 List prepared annually by the United States Trade Representative (USTR) consist of a report on the progress made by different countries in intellectual property protection worldwide. The USTR while preparing the list, focuses upon the following issues.

• Implementation of the TRIPS Agreement by countries.
• Piracy in "optical media" market (CDs, CD-ROMs etc.) and measures
  taken to reduce and regulate the same.
• Use of legal software by government departments of various countries.

The State of Kuwait signed the WTO Treaty on April 15, 1994. Kuwait also signed the final document containing the conclusions of the Uruguay Round of Talks (8th Tour of GATT) eventually resulting in the TRIPS Agreement. Law No 81 for the year 1995 was issued to confirm the WTO Treaty.

Kuwait joined the WTO to fulfill the needs required by a rapidly growing world and to meet with the demands of technological advancement. The advances in communication technology have rapidly shrunk distances between States and reduced the size of the world to that of a small village. The present era is considered to be an era of immense integration of bodies for economic benefit. In the opinion of the government, the joining of Kuwait as a member of the WTO will hold the key to opening the Kuwaiti markets, offering better commercial facilities, and eliminating encumbrances imposed by local customs authorities.

Certain inadequacies were discovered in the intellectual property laws prevailing at the time when Kuwait became a member of WTO as Kuwait had not fully complied with the TRIPS Agreement.

The new law regarding copyrights, and the amendments to the trademark provisions of the Law of Commerce and the Patents Law, are mainly as a result of the observations of the USTR and are intended to comply with the requirements of the TRIPS Agreement as far as possible.