What is the legal framework governing intellectual property rights in the United Arab Emirates? What is the nature of intellectual property rights within common law jurisdictions? What are the differences in intellectual property rights protection between the United Arab Emirates and common law jurisdictions?

Legal Studies

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. Project Background

Intellectual Property has a contributed significantly to the rapid development of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as one of the strongest economies within the Co-operation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC). Intellectual Property (IP) is conceptualized as the original creation stemming from human intellect such as scientific creations, literary works, technical innovations, or artistic works. On the other hand, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) refer to the legal rights arising from intellectual property. Stated differently, these are the legal rights that are given and protected by the law to an inventor or innovator, thus providing them with exclusive rights to fully utilize their creation. In the alternative, IPR grant the creator’s assignee exclusive rights, subject to the terms of the assignment, to utilize the invention. They include patents, industrial designs, trademarks, and copyrights.

Intellectual property rights offer protection to the interests of the inventor in the sense that they are ius prohibendi rights. Several scholars agree that the conferment of IPR has several advantages. From the perspective of the licensor, IPRs ensure the creation of new markets, promote the level of competition in the economy, and create an avenue for the generation of revenue. A steady legal framework governing IP also promotes the level of invention in the economy. From the perspective of the IPR owner, protection ensures that the intangible asset is protected from unauthorized intervention or utilization, and that there is return on their research and development.

The UAE has an elaborate legal framework governing IP, deriving from both international conventions and legislations. Internationally, the UAE is a member of the Berne Convention for the Protection Literary and Artistic Work (“the Berne Convention”), Paris Convention for the Protection Industrial Property (“the Paris Agreement”), Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty, Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Convention. Locally, the UAE has enacted Federal Law No. 7 of 2002, Federal Law No. 37 of 1992 and Federal Law 17 of 2002 to govern copyrights, patents and industrial designs, and trademarks respectively. The purpose of the research project is to determine the extent, to which this elaborates legal framework conclusively protects IP rights of creators within the UAE. Specifically, the legal framework is compared to that of Common Law jurisdictions.

1.2. Research Questions

This project is guided by the research question: What is the difference in Intellectual Property and Art Laws between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Common Law Jurisdictions? To answer this research question, the following research questions will guide the research:
1. What is the legal framework governing intellectual property rights in the United Arab Emirates?
2. What is the nature of intellectual property rights within common law jurisdictions?
3. What are the differences in intellectual property rights protection between the United Arab Emirates and common law jurisdictions?
4. What are the similarities in intellectual property rights protection between the United Arab Emirates and common law jurisdictions?