As per article 2 of the Patent Law, Patents shall be available for any inventions, provided that they are new, involve an inventive step and are capable of industrial application whether they are related to new industrial products, modern industrial techniques and devices, or common industrial methods. Besides, it shall not be contradicting with the provisions of Islamic Sharia’ (Law), violating the public order, ethics or national security.

Once who got patent will enjoy legal protection for the same for twenty years with exclusive rights. So, as no third party can exploit the invention without authorisation of the owner. There are three conditions which are required to meet the qualification for patent registration.

1.         Novelty

2.         Inventive step

3.         Industrial application

The law doesn’t describe what novelty means, whether it is absolutely novel or not. Anyway, it should be something not revealed to the public till now in Qatar or abroad. The inventive step means something helpful in a way adding the state of art. Industrial application means that the patent should be given only to such a thing which is susceptible to industrial application. It means only a theoretical explanation would not be registered but should be practically proven.

The Patent Law recognises the Compulsory Licensing principle allowing the government to give a third party the right to exploit inventions or processes that are protected by patents, without the consent of the inventor.  The conditions for this are if the owner of the patent is not seriously exploiting the patent for three years from achieving patent, secondly, if the patentee stopped exploiting the patent for two consecutive years without informing the Patent Office, thirdly, if the owner is don’t allow contractual licensing to third parties which will negatively affect the development of Qatar economically as well as commercially. If the patentee can prove some legitimate reasons, then the third-party claims would be declined by the Patent Office.

For the last one and half decades, intellectual property and patent practices in Qatar has gone forward very much. Now, anybody or legal entity can apply and get a license for any intellectual property, trademark and copyrights.

For patent registration in Qatar, Firstly, you have to register online on the MOCI website. You have to specify which type of application you are submitting (PCT or Paris). Then you have to fill all required details including your personal details, invention name, names of inventors etc. Then you have to fill and attach Patent Request from and Patent Obligation Form, inventors ID card or passport and all other documents required.

Your application should include a detailed description of your invention, the agent’s power of attorney evidentiary support for non-residents, commercial registration extract in case of a legal person, the ownership transfer document in case the applicant isn’t the inventor, and the priority documentation issued by the concerned entity.

Once you filed the application through MOIC website, it will go through a strict verification and they will contact you if there any doubts or any amendments are required. After this verification is over, you can pay the registration fees and other fees whichever is needed on the basis of your application. After completion of this stage, you will get the final email which includes all the details of annual fee payment and other things which you have to follow. If you any doubts regarding patent registration you can contact experts from Trade Mark Axis IP. If any kind of opposition on patent allowed for you, it has to be raised within 60 days from publication of the patent.  Major three features which would be inspected during the verification process are novelty, inventiveness and industrial applicability. The duration for the validity of the certificate is 20 years from the date of filing application. It can be renewed from one year before, and within six months after the expiry.

If the patentee has not exploited the invention he registered under patent law in Qatar for a duration of 4 years,  the patent office can grant a compulsory license to a third party, if an application submitted by them proving they have exerted-over a reasonable period of time-efforts in order to obtain a contractual license of reasonable commercial conditions, or for reasonable financial compensation.