BANGLADESH LAW AND PRACTICE Contributed by: Shahwar Nizam, Tarannum Tasnim, Mahboob Aziz, Saif Bhuiyan, Farhan Kabir, Tanzim Ahmed and Rizvi Khan, DFDL Bangladesh
11. Intellectual Property and Data Protection 11.1 Intellectual Property Considerations for Approval of FDI Intellectual property (IP) is an important aspect in screening FDI in Bangladesh. Recently, investors have been seen to consider IP while investing in Bangla - desh. Under Bangladesh laws, several categories of IP are recognised and protected. IP such as copyright, trade marks, designs, patents and geographical indi - cations of goods are governed by different rules and regulations, which recognise, protect and facilitate IP by setting out procedures for registration and transfer and remedies for infringement of IP. Therefore, foreign - ers who intend to register their IP in Bangladesh would have protection therefor in the country. In Bangladesh, the registration authority is different for each category of IP. For instance, patents, designs and trade marks are registered with the Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks, while the Copy - right Office deals with copyright matters. Please note that each of aforementioned authorities has different processes for registering IP, which usually begins with reviewing the IP usage and ownership documents. 11.2 Intellectual Property Protections The compulsory registration requirement for IP ensures strong protection of IP rights. There is a public registry where IP right holders can easily be identified. Also, courts are accessible to protect an IP right against any infringement. Regarding the protection of AI-generated works, there is currently no legislation explicitly addressing whether such works are entitled to the same IP rights and protections as those created by humans. Existing laws primarily grant IP rights exclusively to human- created works. However, the draft National Artificial Intelligence Policy 2024 proposes establishing a legal framework that includes ownership rights, patents and copyright regulations for AI-generated models, works, data and more.
11.3 Data Protection and Privacy Considerations
The Bangladesh data protection regime is still under - developed, and Bangladesh does not have any com - prehensive set of data protection/privacy rules in place. The present data protection regime is mainly governed under the Information and Communication Technology Act 2006 (ICTA) and the Cyber Security Act 2023 (CSA). There is a restriction under the ICTA on disclosing information found in any electronic record, book, register, correspondence, data, docu - ment or other material without the consent of the data owner. Disclosure of such information without consent of the data owner is regarded as an offence under the ICTA and is punishable by imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or a fine not exceeding BDT200,000, or both. Conversely, the CSA protects the collection, trans - fer, use, processing, etc of personal data. The CSA does not explicitly define “personal data”. Instead, the CSA defines “identity information”, which includes any external, biological or physical information, or any other information, that singly or jointly can identify a person or a system. Under the CSA, if any person col - lects, sells, takes possession of, supplies or uses any person’s identity information” without “lawful author - ity”, then such act of the person will be treated as an offence. Please note that the CSA does not provide any defini - tion for the term “lawful authority”. However, based on unofficial enquiries with the ICT Division, “law - ful authority” can be understood to mean written consent. Both the ICTA and CSA have extraterrito - rial application. Any violation of the aforementioned restriction is considered an offence punishable by imprisonment not exceeding two years or a fine not exceeding BDT500,000, or both. Since data privacy is still a new concept, there is no strong enforcement.
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