The End Of The GCC Patent: What Next?

On 5 January 2021, the Supreme Council of the GCC held its annual meeting and issued its decision to discontinue the GCC Patent, with the announcement that the GCC Patent Office will no longer accept any new patent applications as of 6 January 2021. The GCC Patent Office, located in Riyadh, has been receiving patent applications since 1998 and was established to implement and grant a harmonized form of patent protection throughout the GCC countries. The main idea of GCC Patent system is to give the holder(s) of a GCC granted patents the benefit of legal protection of patent rights in all the GCC countries from one single regional application, which significantly reduced the financial and administrative burden on applicants. It should also urge patentees to acquire patents in the GCC region and invest more to support the innovative and creativity principles.