Industrial Design in Kuwait

The process of Industrial Design registration in Kuwait is governed by provisions of Law No. 4 of 1962 Relating to Patents, Designs and Industrial Models. The Law states that a design or industrial model, every arrangement of lines or every shape of body, with or without colours, for use in industrial production, by mechanical, manual or chemical means shall be deemed a design or industrial model.

Filing Requirements

For the Industrial Design, the following documents are necessary to be filed-

  • Name of the design.
  • Design Drawings from all different angles.
  • Description of the design.
  • Applicant’s information (name, address, and nationality).
  • List of goods according to Locarno Classification.
  • Deed of Assignment (DOA) if the applicant is not the designer: Original should be legalized at the Kuwaiti embassy and submitted at filing.
  • Power of Attorney (POA): Original should be notarized and legalized at the Kuwaiti embassy and subsequently locally legalized.
  • A copy of the commercial certificate translated to Arabic.
  • A certified copy of the priority document translated to Arabic.
Examination

For the Industrial Design, the registration process can take up to 6 months to be completed where a single application could be filed for 1 to 50 designs as long as they are in the same class. The application will be examined by the examining authority within a period of 1-2 months. After the end of the examination period, the IDO will issue a decision. The application can be accepted in which the publication fees should be settled within prescribed time limit from the official notification, otherwise the application will be considered withdrawn. On the other side, if the application get rejected then the applicant may appeal the decision within a period of 30 days from the official notification date, otherwise the application would be considered withdrawn.

Any interested third party can oppose the publication of the application within the prescribed time limit from the date of publication. The applicant too has 30 days from the official notification date to file a reply to the opposition, otherwise the application will be considered withdrawn.

The certificate of registration will be after the settlement of registration fees. The design's registration is valid for 10 years, starting from the filing date, and renewable for 5 years.

For the Design Renewal the design registration can be renewed. The renewal application should be filed within the last year of the valid protection period. A 3 months grace period after the expiry of the valid protection period is granted for filing late renewal, however it is subject to late penalty fees. A change of agent should be filed and recorded prior to filing the renewal to ensure formality requirements are met.

(Time Limit may vary. Clients are requested to check the official website or be in touch with our attorney)