Guidelines for filling out a Patent Request Form

 

First: General Guidelines

1. A request should include Form (1) (Patent Request), characteristics of the invention, and all other relevant enclosures.
 2. Requests and all enclosures should be in Arabic.
3. The title of invention should be in conformity with the terms specified in the terms of filling out the applications, and should not differ from the characteristics of the invention specified.
4. All submitted documentation should be original, or copies authenticated by the proper authorities.
5. A deposit payment of SR. 2000 for individuals; or SR. 4000 for businesses should be made upon application by a cheque issued to the order of GCC Patent Office from a bank in one of the GCC countries, or by a bank transfer, or a deposit in the bank account of the office.
6. All pages should be numbered, using separate groups of numbers for the following: Request and annex-Abstract-Detailed description-claims-Explanatory graphs-other attachments.
7. An applicant should complete all relevant demands made by the Patent Office.

 Second: Terms for filling out Form (1) (Patent Request) and Annex

Form No. 1 (Patent Request) should be clearly filled out in Arabic. Enclosure of title of invention, applicant's name, inventor's name and other foreign documents in English is preferable, and sections of the form should be filled out in numerical order as follows:

1. Title of Invention: Title of Invention should be defined in brief, preferably not exceeding seven words; general statements as "chemical process", "electronic device", "electric machine", "bio-agent with new characteristics"..and so on are not accepted as Titles of Invention. To shorten a Title of Invention, phrases like "new method for…", "improvement of …", and "upgrading of …" should be avoided. For example, "upgrading of dental injections to make them auto-protected", should be expressed by "auto-protected dental injections".

2. Applicant's name: Applicants may be natural persons i.e. individuals or private businesses (request should be made to the owner's name). The applicant may also be an artificial person i.e. firms, or Govt. organizations and bodies. The proper box should be selected. Names of individuals should be in conformity with those of personal identification cards, in the following order: First name, Father's name, Grandfather's name, and Family name. Names of establishments and companies should be in conformity with their official names. The applicant's nationality, permanent address, place of choice -correspondence address and -his residence address or main office of artificial persons, should be indicated in the proper boxes. In case more than one applicant are involved, information of the primary applicant should be inscribed in this part, other applicants' information should inscribed in the proper annex (1-A). Correspondence between the office and applicants will be through the primary applicant in the absence of Authorized Agent.

3. Inventor's name: Inventor's name should be in conformity with personal identification card information, in the following order: First name, Father's name, Grandfather's name, and Family name. In cases where more than one actual inventor took part in the invention, information of all inventors should be given in the proper annex (Form 1.B).

4. Authorized Agent's name: Authorization letter issued by the proper agencies in the GCC should authenticate authorized Agent's name. In cases of authorized agents outside the GCC countries, an authorization letter authenticated by the proper GCC agency and approved by one of the GCC countries' delegations abroad should be submitted. The Authorized Agent should also enclose proper documents of permission to practice such a profession within the GCC countries, if the applicant's residence is outside the G.C.C states Correspondence between the office & the applicant will be through The agent's address;

5. Enclosures: General terms, and special terms of standards for each type should be consulted. In case of other enclosures, an enclosure's title, number of pages both numeral and written should be indicated, and if the necessary enclosures are not included, an obligation of submitting the enclosures should be signed (Form 1.D).

6. Additional Information: Information of previous patent requests or patents relevant to the invention should be indicated in the proper annex (Form 1.C).

7. Ratification: This section (of Form No. 1) should indicate the applicant's name (or the agent's) and signature, and the Authorized Agent's seal. The ratification should also be signed by other applicants (Form 1.A) in the absence of an agent.

Third: Guidelines for Standards

1. Standards should respectively include the following: full description, claims, explanatory diagrams and abstract.

2. Standards should be written in Arabic, enclosure of English translation is preferable.

3. Each section should start on a new page, and the title (apart from graphs) should appear in the middle of the top line and should be underlined. Standards sheets (apart from graphs) should be numbered, the page number should be in the middle of the line below the top margin (not within the margin).
4. The abstract and the detailed description should start with title of the invention.
5. Standards should be submitted in the original copies of which copies can be made by different copying media.
6. White, flexible, strong and soft heavy-duty paper of A4 size should be used.
7. Sheets should be neat, free of scratch marks, alterations and carbon stains.
8. Typewriters or similar typing machines should typewrite texts.
9. Only one side of the paper should be used.
10. A space of 1 cm should be left between lines.
11. Margins in all pages should be not less than the following: Top and right 2.5 cm, bottom and left 2 cm. All margins should be left blank
12. Letters should be approximately 3.2 mm size, dark, clear and easy to distinguish.
13.Actual lines of each page (not counting blank spaces between the lines)should be numbered; numbering the fifth line, the tenth etc. should suffice. The numbering should be on the left side of the right margin, except for the "Claims" where lines of each element are numbered separately.
14.Abstract, Detailed Description and Claims may contain mathematical and, chemical formulas, phrases and scientific phrases in English, but none should contain explanatory graphs. Tables, if any, should come under the detailed description of standards.
15. Metric system should be used in measurements, and temperatures should be in centigrade.
16. It is necessary that all drawings, and explanatory graphs enclosed should help complete and clear understanding of the invention.

Fourth: Guidelines for Detailed Description

The Detailed Description should start by Title of the Invention, and the following should be observed:

A- Definition of the relevant field of the invention.

B- Indication of the professional background of the applicant, which might be useful in understanding, examination and study of the invention. It is also recommended to mention the documents relevant to the field.

C- Usage of simple, comprehensible, clear, and thorough language in introducing the invention to enable individuals of average skills in the field to evaluate the invention and put it in hand, in addition to indication of usages of the invention, if any.

D- Provision of brief description of explanatory graphs, if any.

E- Explanation of the best approaches reached by the applicant to conduct the invention, by giving examples as necessary and reference to graphs, if any.

F- Clear explanation of industrial application of the invention, method of manufacturing and utilization, or just the utilization whenever possible, as well as conclusions supported by examples and statistics whenever possible.

All the previous sections should be respectively listed under the titles:

Title of invention, Technical Field, Technical Background, Introduction of invention, Description of graphs and drawings, Means of putting the invention in hand, Method of industrial application of invention. Each title should be the beginning of the line and should be underlined, but does not require a new page for each section.

Fifth: Guideline for Claims

1. Claims should give complete definition of required protection range, including new basic contents of the invention or creative steps. One element or more can be used to define different aspects of invention; elements should be listed in numerical order, and element number one should be defined the most.

2. Claims should be clear, interrelated, and should define the essence of the invention, not characteristics, in a definite way to facilitate verification of protection range without having to consult the detailed description or the explanatory graphs unless absolutely necessary.

3. Each element should be phrased to distinguish the innovative step or the new section of range of protection, i.e. the subject product should be defined by its contents, and technical characteristic followed by "distinguished by…", followed by indication of all new or innovative peculiarities of the product distinguishing it from other known products.

4. Claims should be of a definite range in comparison to revelation in the detailed description section.

Sixth: Guideline for Explanatory Graphs

1.For graphs, A4 size sheets should be used as it is suitable for good and clear graphs that can clearly be copied, and figures should be drawn upright on the page whenever possible.

2.Sheets should be respectively numbered, and the total number of drawing sheets of explanatory graphs, i.e.1/4,2/4,3/4 and 4/4, below the top margin in the middle of the page.

3.One page may contain more than one explanatory drawing and, if necessary, several sheets may be used for one drawing, provided they can be easily attached to complete the picture.

4.In case more than one graph was sketched on a single sheet, a space should be left in between, and graphs should be given serial numbers.

5.Explanatory graphs should be given separate numbers, regardless of the sheet number and, whenever possible, they should be put together and organized according to serial numbers.

6.Explanatory graphs should not be shaded, and should be defined by dark lines, while interrupted lines should define sectors without using colours.

7.Nothing should be written on the drawing sheets, be that relevant to the title of the invention or its description, but when absolutely necessary a few explanatory words may be used to clarify the basics of the figure.

8.The size of numbers used to list elements of drawings or the letters used to distinguish their contents should be not less than 3 mm, and the same numbers and letters should be used for different drawings to identify the same contents.

Seventh: Guideline for Abstract

1.Abstract should not exceed half a page, and maximum length should be one page.

2.In cases where explanatory graphs are enclosed, number of the drawing indicating invention in general should be pointed out at the end of the abstract.

3.If contents of the drawing specified in the previous item are referred to in the abstract, and the drawing had any numbers or letters used to distinguish these contents, the same numbers or letters should be indicated between brackets within the abstract.

4.The abstract should contain briefing of what is revealed in the description, claims, and graphs, and should indicate the technical field of invention as well as the main aspects of utilization of the invention and, if necessary, the technical formula should be given to better distinguish the invention in relation to other formulas indicated in the request. The applicant should enclose the best graphs with the abstract. It should be taken into consideration that abstracts do not interpret the range of protection.

5. The mention of potential future significance, values or characteristics of the invention should be avoided.