MoCI raises awareness to protect intellectual property rights

11/09/2025 03:22 AST

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry's (MoCI) strategy 2024-2030 aims to accelerate the national economy and enhance the business environment in Qatar, achieving 100 percent digitalisation of all services and increasing the number of patents with an annual growth rate of 20 percent until 2030.

In a post on its X platform recently the Ministry stated, "Register your creation and don't give up your intellectual rights! Every design, text, image, or video you make is yours. Protect your work. Filing a patent application grants you the legal right to protect your invention and prevents others from using it without your permission."

"Your invention is the result of your creativity. Submitting an application grants you a legal right to protect your invention and prohibit others from exploiting it without your permission. To maintain the confidentiality of your innovation, keep your invention details confidential until it is registered with the Intellectual Property".

"Registering creative works safeguards your rights against thefts or unauthorised use without your permission. For every writer, composer, photographer or artist - to protect your literary and financial rights, we encourage to document your creative works with the Intellectual Property Rights Protection Department. This will ensure you are protected from any exploitation or infringement," the post added.

The Ministry outlined through an electronic guide the steps to submit trademark registration application for accessing the trademark registration service through the Ministry of Commerce and Industry's website.

The Ministry through the Intellectual Property Rights Protection Department works to protect the rights of innovators and inventors.

It is making great efforts to communicate its initiatives to the public in the field of intellectual property rights protection, and to clarify the laws and legislation that have been issued to protect these rights, in addition to reviewing the most prominent electronic services that it provides in this field, introducing patent registration mechanisms, the followed procedures, and cooperating with the World Intellectual Property Organization regarding the establishment of technology and innovation support centers.

Qatar has made progress towards enacting legislation and implementing practices to enable rights holders to protect their IP. New laws with respect to trademarks, copyright, registered designs and patents have been enacted since 2002 and Qatar has acceded to various international treaties regarding IP law.

The intellectual property includes patents, trademarks, copyrights, and industrial designs which are vital for startups and SMEs to convert their innovations into valuable economic assets, strengthen their competitiveness, and expand internationally.

Qatar's commitment to turning innovative ideas into protected intellectual property that fuels sustainable economic growth and global competitiveness.

Recently Qatar Research, Development and Innovation (QRDI) Council announced a new partnership with MoCI and WIPO to empower Qatari small and medium enterprises through strategic intellectual property management and innovation.

The Intellectual Property Rights Protection Department at the Ministry is specialised in inspection and judicial control of cases of violation of intellectual property rights officially registered in the country, and that any inventor, in case of suspicion of a violation of an intellectual property right registered in the records of the Ministry, can communicate with the Department to consider the violation and withdraw the counterfeit product from the Qatari market.

Qatar is working to achieve its 2030 national vision and has identified among the goals of this targeted vision the achievement of a diversified economy that gradually reduces its dependence on hydrocarbon industries, enhances the role of the private sector and maintains its competitiveness through a knowledge-based economy.

The Peninsula