Categories: Published Articles
      Date: Oct  4, 2016
     Title: Intellectual Property Registries in Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip

Intellectual Property Registries in Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip

Chagai Vinizky

Intellectual property laws are essentially territorial. Because the State of Israel did not impose its sovereignty on Judea and Samaria,1 in principle Israeli laws did and do not apply to the region. Thus, the registration of intellectual property rights with the five intellectual property registries in Israel (patents, design patents, trademarks, appellations of origin, and plant varieties) in principle provide protection only within the territory of the State of Israel and not in Judea and Samaria. A historical perspective of intellectual property registries in Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip requires the review of four periods: Ottoman, British Mandate, Jordanian/Egyptian, and the period of the Israeli military government. The latter is divided into two sub-periods: from 1967 to the Interim Agreement in 1995,2 and from 1995 to the present. The discussion of trademarks began during the Ottoman period and it is still relevant today, because the lifespan of a trademark is not limited in time as long as it is renewed. The discussion of patents and design patents (henceforth, designs), from the Ottoman period to the Interim Agreement does not concern patents and designs that are valid today, because patents and designs expire at the end of their period, but the substantive law applicable to the registration of patents and designs, and the process that takes place in relation to the registration in intellectual property registers when there is a change of government or a transfer of territory. The discussion is important for the solutions that we present in this article. This article describes the development of intellectual property rights registration in Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip, stressing the existing flaws in the current law, and proposes solutions to remedy these flaws.



98 J. Pat. & Trademark Off. Soc’y 266(2016)

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