Comparison of IP of Middle East and UK

Intellectual property (IP) refers to category of the property which includes the intangible creation pertaining to human intellect like copyrights, patents along with trademarks. It includes the other kind of rights like moral rights, trade secrets and the right against that of unfair competition. The cybercriminals have a tendency of targeting the regions that have poor regulation that helps people in carrying out the financial cyberattacks. The banks in Middle East lag behind in terms of implementing ICT data security measures that creates gap in relation to intellectual property in Middle East. This literature review makes a comparison pertaining to IP of Middle East and UK. It also elaborates on the challenge in relation to trade mark in Middle East and data transfer regulation within Middle East. It discusses about the impact of Internet of Things that has an effect on intellectual property in the Middle East.

Governments and the enterprises in Middle East are taking recourse to digital technologies which is called digitisation. The digital market of Middle East is growing at a rate of 12 %. The financial institutions in UK are working for improving the policies that can help in meeting the international standards. Implementation pertaining to the security measures is at a weak stage in the Middle East and this creates challenges in relation to Intellectual Property in the Middle East. The cybercriminals can target the small entities of the region owing to gaps that exist in the security systems of the entities. Growth of mobile internet in Middle East has paved the way for increase in relation to the stealing of the intellectual property. The research and the development facilities in Middle East is not that developed which paves the way for gap in relation to intellectual property. The technology that is made use of by the business in UK are well-developed that helps in safeguarding the intellectual property of the companies in UK. The companies in UK have their own trademarks that helps in distinguishing their service from that of other companies within UK. Patents in UAE can be protected with the help of Industrial Property Law within UAE. UAE is operative under that of two systems: Patent Cooperation Treaty System along with Gulf Cooperation Council. Patent system helps in providing mechanism for the regional fillings pertaining to patent application in Gulf Co-operation Council Countries. The companies in UK take recourse to automatic protection for safeguarding the intellectual property. The intellectual property of the different business in UK are protected with the help of patents that helps in affording protection to the unique intellectual property of the country. In UK, owners of the trade mark can defend the mark against that of infringements. Trade Mark in UK should have been used for a span of time that can help it in acquiring local distinctiveness.

Trademark protection in Middle East

UAE officials along with brand owners agree to the fact that penalties that are provided under the UAE law is not deterrent to the infringers. The trademark law in UAE is instrumental in providing maximum fine of that of $ 2275 that does not prevent the crimes related to intellectual property. There exist some level of harmonisation pertaining to the common standards which is available across the Arab countries. Within Saudi Arabia, trade mark law has to be used along with Sharias law. Country is instrumental in demonstrating greater sensitivity to that of the religious tradition that acts like a challenge in relation to trade secrets in the Middle East.

The trade marks that cover the alcoholic goods are prohibited in UK that proves to be a barrier in relation to protecting intellectual property within the UK. The trade mark owners in Australia do not take into consideration the aspect of language along with culture that proves to be difficult in relation to protecting the aspect of intellectual property.

There are many Arab countries that want the use of the Arab script on the products and in the industries. The marks that are put on the signboards of Kuwait, Qatar along with Saudi Arabia should be in compliance with that of local regulation. Transliteration should be registered in the local script that can help in protecting the intellectual property of the business running in the Middle East. The countries in Middle East does not have anti-dilution provision in relation to trade mark laws. An Arabic trade mark would entail additional cost pertaining to clearance along with registration that creates challenges for companies in the Middle East. Transliteration into Arabic script has challenges as because there are certain vowels along with consonants that does not have any kind of equivalent in Arabic language like letter V along with P. The common practice that is carried out is to substitute a letter with that of next best option. The trade mark can undergo transliteration pertaining to phonetic rendition but inconsistencies can occur that throws challenges pertaining to trade mark within that of the Middle East. The challenge is faced by UK in relation to trademarking because there occurs the unauthorised use of the brand names on the social media in UK. The Brexit negotiations has made the trademark clearance a challenge for the various business within UK. Registration of the UK trademark can be challenged with the help of existing registration that designates UK under that of Madrid Protocol.

Trademark Protection in UK

The measures that have been taken in Middle East to overcome challenges is imposing responsibility on licensee for registering licences in UAE and notifying the company about claims in relation to IP infringement. A company can establish contractual arrangement that can help in assigning financial rights in the works and it can help in the execution of retrospective assignments when they would be required. The measures that have been taken for overcoming challenges in UK is providing of expert assistance in the issues related to IP commercialization along with technology transfer. It can connect with the various regions situated outside Europe that can help in enhancing IP based collaboration.

Cyber-defence can be taken recourse to in the Middle East that can be useful in the aspect of cyber surveillance. National Cyber Bureaus can be set up that can help in co-ordinating developing of the cyber defences. Iran is building the cyber forces with the help of a programme that will cost around US $ 1 billion. The malicious actions that take place in the cyberspace can take up various forms like cyber fraud, cybercrime along with spying. The civil society along with state actors should be able to understand that all the vindictive cyber actions does not result in cyber war.

Cyber threats have increased in the region of the Middle East and this occurs owing to the fact that the companies in Middle East does not have an organisational structure that is highly developed. In the event of not having these structures, investigations cannot be carried out that requires complex technical knowledge. There does not exist collaboration among the actors that can help in tackling the incidence of cybercrimes in the Middle East. There are various factors that pave the path for flaws in relation to software design. Technical vulnerabilities take place owing to the factor of human weakness in UK. Exposure is another problem in relation to system configuration that helps the attacker to find out about vital information of a company. The devices in relation to IOT application are left unattended in UK that helps the attacker in capturing device and extracting cryptographic secrets. The devices pertaining to IOT have to operate in the outdoor environments that becomes susceptible to the physical attacks.

There are various factors that has to be considered in relation to data transfer regulation like storing, processing along with accessing large volume of the data. The handlers should ensure that the personal data remains private at the rime of process of data transfer. The errors are often made by the handlers that has a negative impact on the element of security in relation to the individual citizens. The personal information pertaining to the customers and the clients are often leaked that jeopardises the lives of the citizens in the Middle East. Multifactor authentication is not used that can help in securing the sensitive data. A large number of the Middle East companies rank high in terms of financial crime statistics. Companies in the various regions of United Kingdom are creating the solutions that can help them in blocking the aspect of network breach. The cybercriminals in Middle East are changing the tactics so that they can evade detection and at the same time steal the information.

Challenges faced by Middle East and UK

Conclusion:

Cybercriminals target regions having poor regulations that makes people in conducting financial cyberattacks. The banks in Middle East does not implement security measures that helps in the creation of gap pertaining to intellectual property within Middle East. Implementation of security measures is weak in Middle East that creates barriers in the path of intellectual property within Middle East. There are gaps in security system that can be targeted by cybercriminals. The usage of mobile internet has increased in the present age that helps in the aspect of stealing intellectual property. Transliteration into that of the Arabic script poses various challenges as there exist letters that have no equivalent within that of Arabic language. The handlers make errors that bears negative repercussion on security of citizens. The information of the customers are leaked that threatens lives of the citizens in the Middle East. The organisations within Middle East are devoid of any kind of organisational structure that increases the risk of stealing of intellectual property. There exist hardware vulnerabilities that creates gap in relation to intellectual property in the Middle East.

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