The "Federation of U.A.E. Chambers of Commerce and Industry", organized a meeting at the Federation's Head Office in Abu-Dhabi in 29 January 2000 to discuss amendments to the GCC Patent law which was approved by the Gulf Cooperation Council in November 1999.
Mr. Mohammed Ali Al-Rashid, Director of the GCC Patent Office, made a speech about the new amended GCC Patent Law, which is expected to be effective within less than three months
Mr. Al-Rashid clarified that it is now possible (according to the new regulations) to allow for duplication between GCC patent applications, and counterpart national patent applications in any of the GCC countries. This would allow PCT-based applications, filed in the UAE for example, to be filed with the GCC Patent Office as well.
