Legislative Implementation of Flexibilities - Bahrain

Title:	Article 41 of the Law No. 1 of 2004 on Patents and Utility Models as last amended by Law 14 of 2006
Field of IP:	Patents
Type of flexibility:	Criminal sanctions for patent infringement
Summary table:

Provisions of Law

Without prejudice to any more severe penalties provided for in any other law, any person who unlawfully and knowingly commits any of the hereunder acts shall be punished by imprisonment for a period not less than (3) months and not exceeding one year, and a fine of not less than 500 Dinars and not exceeding 2000 Dinars, or by either penalty:

a) Manufacturing, selling, offering for sale or distribution, or importing or obtaining for commercial purposes; products that contain a violation of any of the rules granted pursuant with the provisions of this Law.

b) Placing a statement on a product, an advertisement, a trademark, a container, packaging material, or otherwise; that would lead others to believe that a product is patented or registered as a utility model.

The court may also order the publication of the verdict in a local daily newspaper once or more at the offender expense.

If the violation is repeated, the penalty shall be doubled in both the minimum and maximum imprisonment and the closing of the commercial store or project, as may be the case, for not less than 15 days and not exceeding (6) months, and publishing the verdict in a daily newspaper once or more at the expense of the offender.