New design law proposed for UAE

Rob Deans and André Human (Clyde & Co.), writing for International Law Office, have produced today this summary of proposed amendments of intellectual property laws in the United Arab Emirates. Regarding designs they mention

"(i) an increase in the term of protection for designs from 10 to 15 years; and (ii) clarification on the basic standards of registrability, which were not expressly stated in previous versions of the Patent Law. The Patent Law will require novelty to be judged on an absolute, worldwide basis.

Similar to the position in relation to patents, this is welcomed, although some additional clarification and further changes would also be beneficial. For example, the provision which excludes infringement by users of a design whose use pre-dates the filing or priority date for the application should be removed. It is hard to make sense of this provision as such prior use would appear to destroy novelty, rendering the design unregistrable".

It's not clear when any legislative changes will take effect, though. As the authors add:

"The government is ... engaging in a consultation process, which is ... welcome news and which may result in further positive amendments to the legislation. However, much will depend on the implementing regulations, which are yet to be published and which will have a significant impact on how the amendments are to work in practice".