Ministry of Economy highlights UAE’s efforts in developing intellectual property legislation

The Ministry of Economy (MoEc), represented by the Intellectual Property (IP) sector, participated in the 11th Intellectual Property Technical Committee meeting held by the Intellectual Property and Competitiveness Department of the League of Arab States in Cairo. It was attended by several government officials from the IP sector of Arab countries.

H.E. Dr. Abdulrahman Hassan Al Muaini, Assistant Undersecretary for Intellectual Property Rights Sector at the Ministry of Economy, said that MoEc is keen to enhance cooperation with its partners in the government and private sectors at the local, regional, and global levels to develop an integrated protection environment for various IP applications in accordance with global best practices. This includes safeguarding the rights of authors, neighboring rights, and intellectual works in all fields of literature, arts, and sciences in line with MoEc’s strategic objectives to enhance leadership, competitiveness, and innovation in the UAE, and the vision for the next 50.

In his opening speech at the meeting, H.E. Al Muaini highlighted the UAE’s efforts in developing legislation governing the IP sector. In this regard, the country updated three laws, which pertain to the regulation and protection of industrial property rights, trademarks, and copyright and neighboring rights. This contributed to enhancing the UAE’s IP environment, stimulating innovation, research, and development in the country; providing integrated protection for trademarks, authors, and creators; creating opportunities to attract innovative projects from all over the world; and encouraging investment in new economy sectors.

The latest meeting followed up on the implementation of the recommendations of the subcommittees of the IP Technical Committee. These are the Subcommittee on Industrial Property and the Subcommittee on Copyright and Neighboring Rights. In addition, the meeting reviewed the mechanisms for the preparation of a document on the reality surrounding industrial property in Arab countries, addressing the topic of a regional network for technology and innovation support centers in the region. The challenges facing copyright and neighboring rights in Arab countries and the ways to confront them were also discussed, apart from completing the preparation of a draft study on copyright and neighboring rights.

The Technical Committee consists of government officials responsible for IP offices (industrial property offices, copyright offices, and neighboring rights offices) in Arab countries. It is responsible for the establishment of rules for cooperation between Arab countries in the field of IP protection, thus enhancing their awareness on IP issues and encouraging innovation.