Islamic Public Policy and Morality Principles and Their Effect on Trade Mark Registration and Protection in the Light of the TRIPS Agreement

This thesis examines the effects of Islamic public policy and morality on trademarks registration and protection under the Islamic legal system. Public policy and morality play an affective role in determining whether or not a trademark can be recognised as such and is one of the important criteria in determining registration. The aim of this thesis is to explore public policy and morality principles that affect trademarks registration and protection in Shariah by using Kuwaiti law as a case study, especially in relation to the trademark forms, product origin and trademark nationality as well as the nature of the product. This thesis looks at how a country that adopts Islamic Shariah, also applies TRIPS provisions dealing with trademarks registration in relation to public policy and morality. The results of this research show that there are various restrictions imposed strictly by the Kuwaiti public policy and morality principles on trademark. This has a direct impact on trademark recognition and protection in Kuwait. The findings provide a better understanding of trademark recognition in Shariah’s perspective and the requirements demanded by Islamic Shariah especially of those who deal with strict Shariah jurisdiction countries. The conclusion suggests that trademark in Islamic Shariah are controlled by a number of public policy and morality rules that can be elicited from the primary Shariah sources of legislation, which has a direct effect on the recognition of trademarks. In addition, there is no full harmony between Shariah public policy or morality and some provisions of the TRIPS Agreement regarding the registration of trademarks. However, there might be a possibility of compromise through finding a formula to satisfy both provisions.

Grantor dc:publisher

Oxford Brookes University

Year dc:date

2016

Author dc:creator

• Al-Yaseen, Nawaf Saud

Contributors dc:contributor

• Cheyne, Ilona
• Edge, Peter
• Cooper, Simon

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved

Language dc:language

en

DOI dc:identifier

https://doi.org/10.24384/7vxk-c288

OAI identifier oai:identifier

tle:87636f9d-6d2d-4eda-9565-ab75390e57b5:d6bd9758-527a-46cd-bfe2-c433766e8fca:1