OMAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Said Al-Shahry, Thamer Al-Shahry, Jeremy Pooley, Maria Mariam Rabeaa Petrou, Mujtaba Ali Kazmi and Salim Al Harthi, Said Al Shahry & Partners
product forming a sign of an industrial or a handicraft product which is visually perceptible with an unaided eye.” For the industrial design to be eligible for regis - tration, it must be: • new; • not disclosed to the public; and • be industrially applicable. The term of protection for an industrial design regis - tered in Oman is five years, which may be renewed for two consecutive periods of the same duration upon the owner’s request and after payment of the prescribed fees. Broadly speaking, the procedure to register an indus - trial design is as follows. • The procedure is commenced by submitting an application for registration to the Registrar in the prescribed form, signed by the applicant or the applicant’s lawyer. • The application must be accompanied by draw - ings, photographs and a petition that sufficiently describes the goods incorporating the industrial design and indicates the type of products for which the industrial design is used. • The Registrar will then evaluate the application and notify the applicant of the decision to accept or reject the application. The applicant must pay the prescribed fees within 90 days of the date of such notification. • The Registrar will publish the industrial design in the Official Gazette. • Upon successful completion of the no objection period, the Registrar will issue the registration cer - tificate for the industrial design. An industrial design expires five years from the filing date and is renewable for two consecutive periods of the same duration upon the owner’s request. 7.4 Copyright The Law for the Protection of Copyright and Neigh - bouring Rights RD 65/2008 (as amended – the “Copy - right Law”) regulates copyright law in Oman. Oman ratified the Berne Convention for Protection of Literary and Artistic Works in July 1999.
Protection under the Copyright Law is provided to original literary, technical and scientific works, regard - less of their value, nature, method of expression, or the purpose of their authorship. Computer programs and databases read from a computer or elsewhere are protected by copyright. Mere ideas, procedures, methods of work, mathematical concepts, principles, inventions and data are not protected by copyright. Before the author’s work is published, an author or their representative may deposit an application for protection of their work to the MOCIIP in the pre - scribed form, together with three copies of the work. The Copyright Law considers such a deposit tanta - mount to ownership. The applicant will be provided with a deposit number, and the deposit will then be published in the Official Gazette. Thereafter, an appli - cation is submitted to the Ministry for the data deposit certificate for the work. The financial rights of an author of a literary work, including computer programs, are protected during their life and for 70 years starting from the commence - ment of the calendar year following the year of their death. Registration of title to the authorship of a work acts as proof of ownership to the work (Registered Owner), and the onus to prove that the work does not belong to the Registered Owner is on the infringer. In addi - tion to the civil and penal remedies available, a title - holder is entitled to remedies at borders and interim/ ex parte remedies. Civil remedies include orders to prevent the export/import of the goods involved in the infringement, orders to cease the infringement, and claims for compensation based on losses incurred and profits made by the infringer. If copyright infringe - ment is established, the court must pass a judgment to confiscate any assets resulting from the infringe - ment. Except in exceptional cases, the court must also order the confiscation of all the commodities involved in the infringement and the material and equipment used to commit the act of infringement and order their destruction at the expense of the judgment debtor or their disposal outside the trade channels if the destruction is liable to undermine public health or the environment.
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