The Omani Patent Office recently issued an administrative decision which addresses three issues: substantive examination, annuity payments and the term of patent protection in Oman.
Substantive examination
The Omani Patent Office started accepting patent applications in 2005 after the introduction of the official fees schedule (published in Official Gazette no. 805 dated 17th December 2005). Despite this, mechanisms for the examination of patent applications were not established. Pursuant to the recent administrative decision, dated 21st October 2009, the Omani Patent Office has indicated that examination procedures are being implemented.
The administrative decision invites applicants to submit any outstanding documents for pending applications, as the Patent Office will start examining applications for formalities. This step is a precursor to substantive examination, which will involve sending applications to the Austrian Patent Office or European Patent Office where substantive examination will be carried out on behalf of the Omani Patent Office.
Annuity payments
As a preliminary step to the implementation of examination, the administrative decision invites applicants to settle all outstanding annuities. Previously, the requirement to pay annuities was not enforced (largely because there were only limited mechanisms relating to patent applications, and these did not extend to any system for receiving payments of annuities).
On this aspect, Article No. 12, clause 2 of the Industrial Law No. 67 of 2008 states:
In order to maintain a patent or patent application, a progressively increasing annual fee shall be paid in advance for each year, starting one year after the filing date of the application.
The administrative decision did not clarify whether the 'filing date' referred to in Article 12 (above) means the international filing date or the national filing date. Officials at the Omani Patent Office have, however, clarified that for applications filed in Oman pursuant to the Patent Cooperation Treaty, annuities should be paid on the anniversary of the international filing date (and not the anniversary of the national filing date).
In the administrative decision, applicants have been granted a grace period until 1st April 2010 in order to settle the outstanding annuities.
Term of protection for PCT patents in Oman
As a result of the new regulation of the annuity payments, the Omani Patent Office has come into line with most of the PCT member states in respect of calculating the term of protection for patent application (20 years) starting from the filing date of the international PCT application and NOT from the national filing date in Oman.
This administrative decision reflects dramatic progress in the activities of the Omani Patent Office and its efforts to develop the patent system in the country.
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