The Objective of Establishing the Society

The Society’s main objective is to enhance and develop the protection of the intellectual property system through various means of awareness and education that explain the nature of work in this field and its effective role in the economy.

It also aims at upgrading and unifying the Arab legislations in the field of intellectual property by studying the various aspects of patents, trademarks, industrial models and copyrights in order to prescribe their bases and effects and to propose the basic lines for formulating them into laws. The Society also aims at raising awareness about the necessity of providing international protection for intellectual property and its various branches for the concerned people in the Arab world and to develop the laws in accordance with the provisions of the Paris Convention (1883) and other conventions in the field of IP protection as it provides benefits to professionals, consumers, producers and the community in general.

The Society also aims at enhancing and developing intellectual property protection in the Arab countries by encouraging the development of laws which govern the activity of this field, and also at raising awareness about the necessity of providing protection for the concerned people in the Arab world, unifying Arab legislations in this field and promoting conventions in accordance with the provisions of the Paris Convention (1883) and the subsequent conventions in the field of intellectual property protection. In addition, the Society aims at raising awareness and education in this field through specialized media, conferences, seminars, research and studies in order to protect both the consumer and the producer.

ASIP also aims at organizing this profession, activating it and upgrading its status in a way that will serve its members and the local and international community and also professionally train the Arab staff in the field of intellectual property.

The Society was established on February 23, 1987 in Munich, Germany under the name “Arab Society for the Protection of Industrial Property”. About 142 founders from the Arab world attended the Society’s constituent meeting. The meeting was also attended by WIPO’s Director General, the Chairman of the German Patent Office and the Secretary General of the International Federation for the Protection of Industrial Property. Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh chaired the meeting during which the first Board of Directors was elected. This Board consisted of 10 members representing Kuwait, Egypt, Syria,Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Iraq.

THE ARAB SOCIETY FOR INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY (ASIP)

STATUTES

I.
Article 1

Name, Head Office and Fiscal Year

The Society has the name ARABISCHE VEREINIGUNG FUER GEISTIGES EIGENTUM, followed by “e.V.” after its registration. THE ARAB SOCIETY FOR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY INC. (ASIP).

The Society has its Head Office in Munich and can have regional offices in the Arab World.

The Society shall pursue exclusively and immediately only purposes in the interest of the public welfare in the sense of section “tax exempted objectives” of the Regulations on Duties.

The Society’s fiscal year is the calendar year, the first year ending on December 31 of the year in which the Society is registered.

II.
Article 2

Objectives of the Society


The objective of the Society is the training and further training in the field of intellectual property protection and of copyright, including unfair competition.

The objective of the Society is mainly achieved through:

a) organization of meetings and releasing publications for the training and further training of all those working in the field of intellectual property,

b) presenting, deliberating and processing of issues of intellectual property and copyright in committees, meetings and congresses and through scientific publications,

c) promoting the awareness of the necessity for international protection of intellectual property (patents, trade marks, designs and industrial models, and repression of counterfeiting and unfair competition);

d) playing a part in the improvement and standardization of internationally accepted legislation in the field of intellectual property protection through appropriate contributions, and

e) furthering the development of international conventions on intellectual property protection, especially the Paris Convention of March 20, 1883.

The Society is free in the choice of means for the achievement of its objectives insofar as it does not endanger its public charitable status.

Article 3


The Society is a non-profit making organization.

The Society’s income shall be used solely for the objectives set forth in the statutes; members shall receive no remuneration from the Society’s income.

The Society must not favor anybody by paying them irrelevant expenses or unreasonably high allowances.

Members shall have, neither upon their retirement-for any reason whatsoever nor upon the winding up or dissolution of the Society, no right to the Society’s property or any part of it. The Society’s property has to be used in accordance with Article (18) of these statues.

III.
Members

Article 4

Members of the Society can be natural or legal persons who exercise their professional and business activities in the field of intellectual property, especially also those who exercise activities for the or in the Arab countries, or who are resident or have their head offices there.

Application forms are to be addressed to the Board of the Society which decides on the admission. An exception to the rules of paragraph 1 can be made. The admission of an applicant can depend on the applicant’s credibility with regard to sufficient experience in the field of intellectual property protection enabling him to actively further the objectives of the Society.

If the Board refuses the admission of an applicant, the latter can appeal in writing to the next Members Assembly; Article 7 is applicable hereto.

Article 5


Each member shall be required to pay an annual membership fee, due on the first day of January each year, payable in advance. The amount of the annual subscription will be fixed at a Members Assembly.

The payment of membership fees does not give members the right to any share in the Society’s fund; nor do they have a right to a refund of paid in membership fees in cases of retirement or winding-up or dissolution or liquidation of the Society.

Article 6


Membership ceases by

- voluntary resignation
- death
- expulsion from the Society

Resignation can only be in writing to the Board, with a period of three months before the end of a calendar year.

A membership can be terminated if the member has grossly failed in his duty as a member or otherwise grossly contravened the interests of the Society. A gross failure in duty or a gross contravention is always to be assumed if a members fails again in his duty as a member, especially in his duty to further the Society’s objectives, despite a written admonition from the Board.

The Board decides on the expulsion of a member after hearing the concerned. The decision has to be communicated to the member in writing.

Article 7


The member concerned can appeal the decision of the Board in writing to the Members Assembly within one month, as per Article 6, paragraph 4. The time period for the appeal commences the third day following the day on which the Board’s decision has been posted. The appeal will be decided by the next Members Assembly. Prior to the decision, the Society has to hear the person concerned. The decision has to be conveyed to the concerned in writing, stating the reasons.

The person concerned has no vote on the resolution of the Members Assembly regarding his expulsion.

IV.
Structure and Operation of the Society

Article 8


The Society comprises

- the Board consisting of the President, the Vice-President, the Treasurer, the Secretary General and a maximum of Twenty other Directors;
- the Members Assembly

According to Paragraph 26 of the German Civil Code (BGB), the Board consists of the President, the Vice-President, the Treasurer and the Secretary General, each of them may alone represent the Society.

Article 9

The President and the other members of the Board are elected by the ordinary Members Assembly for a duration of four years. Each two years, half of the Board’s elected members retire. In case of equal duration of office, the retiring members required to quit are designated by ballot. Elected members of the Board remain in office until to the next election.

The Board elects from its midst the Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary General.

Article 10


The Board administrates the affairs of the Society according to the principles set forth in these statutes and resolution taken by the Members Assembly.

The Board handles current affairs, prepares resolutions of the Members Assembly and executes the said resolutions.

The Board can in general or for special tasks appoint expert committees and assign their members. The assignment shall not last for more than four years. Re-assignment is acceptable.

Article 11

The President chairs the Members Assemblies and Board meetings and determines the time and place they are to be held. If he is unable to come, he is replaced….and in the following order…by the Vice-President, the Treasurer or the Secretary General or by the oldest Board member (in years of age).

Article 12

The Treasurer collects membership fees, administrates the assets in accordance with resolutions of the Board and the Members Assembly, looks after the accountancy relating thereto and presents annually the administration of the funds to the Members Assembly.

Article 13

The offices of the Society are managed by the Secretary General who administrates current affairs in coordination with the President, taking into account resolutions of the Members Assembly and the Board.

Article 14


The ordinary Members Assembly is held during the first six months of the fiscal year, either at the Society’s headquarters or in a country in which members of the Society reside.

Extraordinary Members Assemblies have to be held if a minimum of 10% of the total number of Society members requests this in writing, setting out the agenda.

Members have to be invited to Members Assemblies in writing at least 4 weeks in advance, announcing the agenda. The post marks on invitations prove the date of their timely dispatch.

Each Members Assembly regularly held must constitute a quorum.

In a Members Assembly, each member has one vote. Substitution by another member is acceptable. The proxy has to be in writing.

The Members Assembly decides with simple majority of votes, unless law or these statutes stipulate cogently other majorities.

Minutes have to be taken of the resolutions of the Members Assembly and must be signed by the Chairman of the Assembly and the Registrar.

Article 15

The Members Assembly decides on all matters of the Society for which the law provides for such decisions, especially

discharging of the Board.
authorization of the budget.
fixing of membership fees.
elections of Board members and of the Treasurer, as well as
on requests made by the Board, by members, and appeals according to Article 4 and Article 7 of the statutes.
V.
Modification of the Statutes and Dissolution of the Society

Article 16


Requests for modification of the Statutes must be notified to the members in writing, together with their invitations to the Members Assembly; requests must be founded.

Modification of the statutes can only be resolved with ¾ of the votes. Modifications of the Society’s objectives can only be effectually resolved if the competent tax authority has given its consent.

Article 17

Requests for dissolution of the Society must be notified to the members by registered letters at least three months prior to the Members Assembly. Dissolution can only be resolved with a majority of ¾ of the votes. The resolution requires the approval of the competent tax authority to take effect.

Article 18

In the case of dissolution or annulment of the Society or in case of suspension of the charitable objectives the Society’s assets shall be transferred to a legal public corporation or another tax-exempted corporation for the purpose that these assets be used for training and further training in the field of intellectual property and of copyright, including unfair competition. The resolution designating the receiver of the Society’s assets requires the approval of the competent tax authority to become effective.

Article 19

The liquidators of the Society are the Board members who form the Board in accordance with Paragraph 26 of the German Civil Code (BGB), the right to representation corresponds to the one they had in their capacity as Board members, unless the Members Assembly decides otherwise on the occasion of the resolution to dissolve the Society.