National Intellectual Property Exhibition Kicks off

Muscat: The National Intellectual Property Exhibition, organised by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion, will begin tomorrow, Monday, at the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre and will continue for two days.

The opening of the exhibition will be sponsored by Her Excellency Dr. Rahma bint Ibrahim Al Mahrouqi, Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation.

The exhibition aims to highlight the importance of protecting intellectual property rights, trademarks, patents, copyrights, and industrial designs, and to showcase inventions and innovations in all branches of intellectual property, as well as the Ministry’s efforts and achievements related to intellectual property.

The exhibition activities include a group of workshops and lectures presented by local and international experts, in addition to displaying the latest registered local and international innovations.

The exhibition hosts 30 inventors registered with the National Intellectual Property Office, in addition to 20 national trademarks.

His Excellency Dr. Saleh bin Saeed Masan, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion for Commerce and Industry, said: “Holding the National Intellectual Property Exhibition comes within the objectives of the National Intellectual Property Strategy, which is in line with the national priority of the human and community axis of Oman Vision 2040, by enhancing and developing an informed and integrated innovative environment concerned with intellectual property rights and spreading awareness among all segments of society, through effective strategic communication, and enforcing intellectual property rights and laws to ensure the protection of its assets.”

His Excellency pointed out that the National Intellectual Property Strategy is one of the most important enablers supporting current development paths, as it is based on four multi-dimensional and multi-purpose pillars based on international experiences and trends. These pillars are the Intellectual Property Management pillar, which is concerned with strengthening the institutional structure of intellectual property; the Intellectual Property Assets pillar, which aims to enhance the acquisition of economic value from the generation of national intellectual property assets; the Legislation and Laws pillar, which specializes in developing and updating laws and legislation related to national intellectual property; and the fourth pillar is the Education, Training and Awareness pillar, which focuses on enhancing community awareness through strategic communication directed towards influence, as well as education, training and awareness to qualify and localize national and institutional competencies in the field of intellectual property.

His Excellency Dr. Saleh bin Saeed Masan stressed that the National Intellectual Property Strategy includes 14 initiatives, including the initiative to accredit the National Intellectual Property Office as a patent examination body accredited by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), in order to gain a reputation and possible international position to attract applications and support investment in intellectual property assets, and the initiative to build and establish an electronic platform for intellectual property in the Sultanate of Oman concerned with employing modern technology means and tools in the digital transformation in providing intellectual property services, including the establishment of a comprehensive electronic platform driven by advanced technologies and the initiative to establish the Omani Inventors Association to highlight the role of civil society in achieving integration and sustainable cooperation between government agencies concerned with promoting intellectual property within the national innovation system, and the initiative to enhance the capacity of the Authority for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises in the field of intellectual property, which contributes to creating a climate for innovation and enhancing the successful use of the intellectual property system by innovative companies, and the initiative to establish a department in the Muscat Court specialized in intellectual property rights cases, which helps to ensure and protect intellectual property rights from infringement, create a protected competitive environment and provide the Sultanate of Oman with specialized and qualified judges locally and internationally. Raising awareness of the seriousness of the violation.

Data from the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion indicate that the number of national patent applications reached 90 during the third quarter of 2024, the number of international applications reached 541 patents, and the number of industrial designs reached 28, compared to the end of 2023, when the number of national patent applications reached 100, while the number of international applications reached 774.

As for trademark applications, they reached 10,875 applications at the end of 2023, and the number of copyright applications filed reached 128 applications, while the number of registered design applications reached 20 applications.