Legislation
Intellectual property legislation includes the law of patents and Industrial
Designs, law No.8 of 1959 as amended, the Trademarks Law, No.40 of 1956,
as amended and the Copyright Law, No.354 of 1954. Libya is a signatory of
the Paris Convention as of September28, 1976, and the Berne Convention as
of September 28, 1976.
Libya Patents Registration
The International Classification of Industrial Design is followed. The patent
application is examined as to form. In the event of rejection, the applicant
is entitled to appeal within 30 days from the date of notification to the
competent preliminary court whose decision may be appealed to the Appeal
Court. If the applicant's request for grant is accepted, the decision of
grant would be published on the Official Gazette. Nonetheless, an interested
party may file an opposition within a period not exceeding 60 days from
the date of publication. A patent is valid for a term of 15 years as from
the date of filing; and it is renewable for period not exceeding 7 years.
However, patents granted for inventions such as drugs and pharmaceutical
preparations shall be granted protection for a non-renewable 10 years period.
An extension for ten years would be approved for patents of particular magnitude.
Annuity fee must be paid within a period not exceeding the last month of
each year.
A compulsory license may be granted to any interested party, if he is in
a position to establish lack of exploitation of the invention for a period
of three consecutive years from the date of grant. If priority is to be
claimed, it must be based on the Paris Convention within 12 months from
the date of the earlier application in a country member of the Paris Union.
If an infringement act is committed, the patentee may institute a suit before
the Industrial Property Tribunal or before the competent criminal law court
as the case may be.
Formal filing requirements for a patent application are as follows:
Power of attorney duly executed and legalized by a Libyan Consulate
or any Arab Consulate.
A duly certified and legalized copy of the certificate of incorporation
or an extract from the commercial register, if the applicant is a company.
Three copies of the specification and claims in English.
Three sets of the formal drawings.
Three copies of an abstract in English and Arabic.
A duly executed deed of assignment if the applicant is not the inventor.
A duly certified and legalized priority document, if priority is
to be claimed.
Designs.
Designs are examined as to form to ensure conformity with formal filing
requirements. In the event, of acceptance, the notification of approval
will be published in the Official Gazette. If the proprietor elects to assign
his right in the design, a duly executed deed of assignment must be recorded
within a period of six months and hence published in the Official Gazette.
Validity term is for 5 years from the date of filing, renewable for two
further periods of 5 years each.
Formal filing requirements.
A power of attorney duly executed and legalized by a Libyan Consulate
or any Arab state in the applicant country.
A duly certified and legalized copy of the certificate of incorporation
or an extract from the Commercial Register, if the applicant is a company.
A duly executed deed of assignment if the applicant is not the owner.
A duly certified and legalized priority document, if priority is
to be claimed.
Two sets of formal drawings or photos clearly showing the design
for which protection is thought. A drawing size 33x21cm is preferable.
A duly executed deed of assignment if the applicant is not the proprietor.
A duly legalized priority document, if priority is to be claimed.
Patent annuities.
Power of attorney duly executed and legalized by a Libyan Consulate.
Particulars of the applicant.
The number and date of filing of the patent.
Changes.
Change of the owner's name.
change of the owner's address
assignment
licensing contract
mergers
Requirements:
A duly executed Deed of Assignment legalized by an Libyan Consulate
Power of attorney duly executed and legalized by a Libyan Consulate
A duly executed contract of licensing.
A duly certified merger instrument.
A duly certified instrument of change of name and/or address.
Original letters of patent for endorsement purposes.
Trademarks/service marks.
The International Classification of Goods is adopted. There are 12 local
service classes (classes from 101-112). A separate application should be
made for each required class; however it could include any number of sub-classes
subject to payment of the prescribed fee. In the event, the Registrar declines
to accept registration or offers an acceptance subject to a condition; the
applicant may within 30 days appeal to the competent court. An accepted
application is published in the Official Gazette. Opposition is permitted,
however it should be triggered by any interested party, within a period
not exceeding six months. Registration of a trademark may be cancelled,
if an interested party established that the mark had not been in operation
for a period of five consecutive years. If it is cancelled as such, it would
only be registered under the name of an interested person, only after expiry
of a period of three years from the date of cancellation. Infringement proceedings
may be initiated before civil or criminal courts as the case may be.
Formal filing requirements are as follows:
Name and address of the applicant including his nationality, his domicile
and the address of his place of business.
A power of attorney duly executed and legalized by a Libyan Consulate.
A duly certified and legalized copy of the certificate of incorporation
or an extract from the Commercial Register if the applicant is a company.
12 prints of the mark for each class and a printing block.
A complete list of goods and services to be covered by the registration.
A duly certified and legalized copy of the priority document if priority
is to be claimed.
NOTE: All documents may be filed together with the application
form or later within a period preferably not exceeding a three months period.
The whole time span required to consummate the whole process of registration
is in the range of 7 to 9 months.
Changes.
Alteration of goods and services.
Alteration of a registered trademark.
Voluntary cancellation of a registration.
Change of name and /or address of the owner.
Assignment of the registration.
Licensing contract.
Requirements:
A power of attorney duly executed and legalized by a Libyan Consulate.
A duly certified instrument of change of name and/or address.
Original certificate of registration / renewal as the case may be.
A deed of assignment duly executed and legalized by a Libyan Consulate.
A duly executed licensing contract.
Copyright.
Range and extent of protection.
Copyrights are governed by copyright law No. 7 of 1984 as amended. The copyright
law provides protection, among other things, for original intellectual works
in arts; literature and science whatsoever their value, the underlying purposes
behind their creation or the manner of expression, insofar, as the prescribed
provisions called for under the law have been observed. The protection embraces
a wide spectrum including, inter alia, written literal works, computer software
and translations of original works. Registration is optional, and if an
applicant elects so to do, it will be made with the Copyright Protection
Office at the Ministry of Culture & Information, where copies of the
work for which copyright is sought must be lodged. A copyright is valid
for a period covering the whole lifetime of the author plus 50 years after
his death.
The law provides for permitted use in a clearly defined situations such
as using the work of art for the user's private or personal purposes, utilizing
the works for illustration or explication purposes including quoting paragraphs
from the work, and reproduction of the work for academic purposes by public
libraries, universities, and other educational institutions, and non-commercial
documentation centers, and cultural and scientific institutions, provided
however that the copies reproduced shall not exceed reasonable needs.
The Ministry of Culture and Information, after securing a civil court order,
has the right to enforce compulsory publication, subject to payment of a
fair compensation, if the author or his heirs unduly neglected to effect
the envisaged publication. The copyright owner has the right to reproduce
his work and to prepare derivative works and to undertake any other action
authorized under the law, and concomitant to this, has the unfettered right
to bring an infringement action as when his rights have been encroached
on.
Formal filing requirements are as follows:
Name and address of the author including his nationality, his domicile
and the address of his place of business. The authors' names must be
indicated if the work is jointly authored.
A power of attorney duly executed and legalized by a Libyan Consulate.
A duly executed deed of assignment legalized by a Libyan Consulate
if the author is not the applicant.
Six copies of the work for which protection is sought to be lodged
with the Ministry of Culture & Information.
