Information Policy

The State of Kuwait

دولة الكويت

Information Policy

Intellectual Property:

The area of Intellectual Property has been a battleground in recent years. Kuwait has been accustomed to years of free software copies and clones ever since the introduction of the personal computer. Today, it continues to struggle with the notion of what was once free and normal, is today at a premium.

Under the WTO agreement called TRIPS (Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights). Kuwait has been lack-luster in accounting for IP protection in its law and legislation and has been under tremendous pressure from the US to take a more active role. Recently, the US has moved Kuwait from the Watch List to the Priority Watch List.

Kuwait reacted in recent years by instigating more raids and penalties against offenders. Often, after such raids, results were posted in the papers to bring it to the public’s attention as a form of example. Such examples have been made from many companies, offices and software pc shops where hardware is confiscated and court dates assigned. Piracy rates are estimated as high as 68%, comprising of $40m losses per year.

“Kuwait’s new Copyright Protection Law provides protection for computer software and related programs, video and music tapes/cassettes/CDs, cinema, drawings, original books and translations, and scientific papers. Officially adopted in December 1999, the new law stipulates rather light (by world standards) punishment for copyright piracy. Copyright violators are now liable for fines of KD500 (US$1,650) and/or a jail term of up to six months, although penalties double for second offenses.”[2]

“Kuwait has effective trademark legislation but, again penalties are light. Trademarks may be registered in Kuwait for ten years and renewed indefinitely for another ten-year period. If a trademark has not been used for a five-year period, an interested party can apply to the courts to have it canceled. Registration gives the owner the exclusive right to use the mark on the goods for which it is registered, and third parties can be prevented from using the mark on competing products. Registration procedures take about three weeks and require a US$60 fee. Trademark registration is linked to the Kuwait agent; when a new agent is selected, the trademark continues in force under the old agent’s name until the new agent registers the trademark.”[2]

The BSA (Business Software Alliance), as regionally headquartered in Dubai, has been instrumental in offering grace periods and educational information to collected business directory listings and email contacts of most of Kuwaiti businesses. The BSA has offered many the opportunity to comply and register their information and plans to comply as a means of pressuring against legal action.

Privacy:

Privacy issues remain somewhat small due to primitive information sharing of public details outside hardcopies of White Pages etc. Due to the country being Arabic language based and the lack of public know-how, Kuwait has not really had any instances of information theft or privacy of information issues. Most databases and Client information (e.g. Banking, governmental) is well maintained and secured by dedicated departments at levels comparable to the western world. With high sense of protection due to consequences and shame, these measures have remained well intact.

It is worth mentioning censorship of materials in Kuwait:

“The Kuwait Ministry of Communications (MOC) controls and regulates
telecommunications services, including the ISP service in the country. Kuwait
attempts to control access to Internet sites deemed to be "inappropriate" for
reasons of sexual/pornographic or political/propaganda content. To further
this objective, the Ministry has hired an American firm to filter and block
undesirable web sites. Unfortunately, the filtering of Internet sites by "key
word" can block access of legitimate E-Commerce sites, such as E-Greeting cards.” [1]

[1] strategis.ic.gc.ca

[2] Emich: ICT_USA, http://www.emich.edu/ict_usa/KUWAIT.htm