Lessons from Iraqi invasion

I was in Iraq as a POW during the last state of liberating Kuwait by the allied forces after invading it by the Iraqi forces on the Aug 2, 1990.
The experience there was totally inhuman, against the Geneva Convention and totally not expected from a close Muslim & Arab neighbour.
After the Iraqis felt the eminent air and land strikes, they started to arrest Kuwaiti civilians from streets and homes, to keep them in hand when exchanging for their Iraqi POWs.
As Kuwait is approaching the 20th anniversary of the invasion, I find it essential to go through some of the lessons of that experience and to talk about the needed measures for our coming future:
1) We need to protect the rule of Law, Freedoms and equality for all the people on this soil.
2) Kuwait as a small country between three giant neighbours, we need strong long term ties with the strategic friends and allies to protect our security and existence.
3) Fortunately, we do have strong and growing budget we need to invest more in education, as it is the long term investment for the coming future generations of this country.
4) It is important to keep strong business relations with the east and the west, to maintain steady cooperation with the world, which truly helped in our difficult days.
5) As Iraq is reaching stability slowly and hopefully surly, we will need to benefit from the bright side of our neighbourhood and try to build bridges between us, even if in new free trade zones in the south of Iraq and the north of Kuwait.
6) The Gulf Cooperation Council must be utilized for a better regional economy, given the regional economical growth and financial stability for all the GCC members.
7) Kuwait as a financial centre will require comprehensive legislative and administrative steps to make real changes in the doing business environment of Kuwait and be able to compete on the regional and the global levels...

Labeed.abdal@gmail.com
http://www.labeedabdal.blogspot.com/

http://www.arabtimesonline.com/NewsDetails/tabid/96/smid/414/ArticleID/157506/reftab/73/t/Lessons-from-Iraqi-invasion/Default.aspx
By: Labeed Abdal - Attorney at Law

Traffic cameras in Kuwait

Installing cameras in the streets were meant to be a way to minimize accidents and save lives.Yet, one can clearly see that, it became an indirect way to impose taxes, when the cameras are installed in the streets without proper indications such as camera signs, the differences between streets, its speed, its users and the recent developments in the car industry.Moreover, sometimes these cameras have become a reason for the increase in accidents rates instead of decreasing it, because of the sudden effects of the flashes that make the drivers panic and induce them to apply strong breaks so as to avoid traffic fine and causes more crashes for the vehicles following them.In the existing Traffic Law of Kuwait, cameras were not mentioned clearly and the M.O.I. is imposing fines on the drivers depending on mere ministerial decrees, which should be swiftly amended as per the constitutional provisions of Kuwait which requires applying fines by the relevant traffic laws, which should have been released by the parliament to authorize the levying of fines.For sure it is a must, we all need to prevent car wars in the streets because of any reckless speed driving and negligent or deliberate crossing of red traffic lights and for that we need to have solid legal grounds to collect fines. Also we need to assure that for some streets a little bit higher speeds should be allowed, as the new generation cars are not like those 30 years ago, given the new models of cars with hybrid engines that give high speed from 0-100 MPH in seconds, with little consumption of fuel and less pollution.Adding enough traffic signs, using electronic alerts and enough distance between the locations of the cameras to give the drivers sufficient time to reduce speed, will make it more meaningful to actually have safer streets with less threats to the innocent people.Light and shadeWe need quick measures and media campaigns in all languages from the Ministry of Interior — The Public Authority for Traffic Affairs to deploy vigilant police officers at the zebra crossings on the important places and busy junctions in Kuwait, so as to assure the absolute protection of the pedestrians and save lives.The effective measures and campaigns which were done before, regarding the use of seat belts while driving on the streets, through the media were successful and we want that to happen again...

Labeed.abdal@gmail.com
http://www.labeedabdal.blogspot..com
By: Labeed Abdal - Attorney at Law

http://www.arabtimesonline.com/NewsDetails/tabid/96/smid/414/ArticleID/157187/reftab/96/t/Traffic-cameras-in-Kuwait/Default.aspx

The sorry state of education

There is a kind of sorry state in the education system in Kuwait, as there are the public schools and the private schools, which are getting into unresolved difficulties and big challenges in different ways, while we are not a country of dearth of resources.In the public schools main challenge is to have good educators who are committed to their normal obligation of moulding and building the young generation in their educational career with providing quality information and skills.In the private schools, you will find good and committed teachers, who crossed oceans and came to Kuwait and get confronted with the private schools administrations, whom some times prefer the parents and in some cases their spoiled children than the needed respect for the teaches and their respective disciplinary role in the class.The education system in Kuwait went through long history and started from the mid of 20th century by Al Katatib system. Which are Quranic schools taught reading, writing and some maths by individual teachers and started to become formal education by the government by taking control of education in 1939.With respect to the old and long history, it presently requires more control from the Ministry of Education to supervise the operation of public and private schools and maintain a better grip on the educational system, to reach more modern goals away from the mentioned difficulties and concerns with more justice and fairness for all parties of the educational process.Email: Labeed.abdal@gmail.com

Blog: www.labeedabdal.blogspot.com
By: Labeed Abdal - Attorney at Law

http://www.arabtimesonline.com/Default.aspx?TabId=96&smid=414&ArticleID=156927&reftab=73&t=The-sorry-state-of-education

Fostering charity culture in Kuwait

Need to make easier means to facilitate, up donations

Charity has been part of the Kuwaiti culture since the early beginning of this society more than 300 years ago.Historically merchants supported the society by building schools, paying for teachers, promoting sports clubs and newspapers and magazines.Whereas in the existing times, charity became more religiously centered and generally known to be away from the civil society activities in some cases and its willingness to contribute for those who are in need, no matter their religion, origin, sex or background.We need to make easier means to facilitate and increase donation to people in need, such as the patients with serious illnesses like heart problems or cancer, the elderly people with lack of means for protection, sick, deserted children, people with disability and low paid workers, etc.Philanthropic undertakings should include nationals, foreigners and expatriates in need and foreign organizations should be allowed to contribute if they are willing to participate in, as the expatriate community still are integral part of the society and they share its highs and lows.There should be sufficient legal guarantee and strong institutional support to increase donations from the non-profit organizations and with no terrorism background or fear.However, impose strict measures in the collection, such as stipulation to payments only through K-net and a close watch on the utilization of the funds, by the concerned authorities to prevent doubtful situation of charity, as we need by all means to increase the responsible charity education and the culture of sharing.The charity concerns everybody and not only the rich or the government. Somebody thinking the charity should be only within the country and someone thinking it is not good for the business. In reality we need to uphold the charity as a social responsibility of the companies and the society’s core values, where it should be part of the public awareness of the need of living together in peace and prosperity.

Labeed.abdal@gmail.com

www.labeedabdal.blogspot.com

http://www.arabtimesonline.com/RSS/tabid/69/smid/414/ArticleID/156571/t/Fostering-charity-culture-in-Kuwait/Default.aspx

Out dated laws in kuwait

The criminal law of Kuwait was issued in1970 and needs major changes and amendments like:
In adultery cases if a man surprises his wife with her partner in the position adultery and kills the wife, the law in Kuwait will consider his rage as a reason behind his reaction to murder the wife and will give him the punishment of a misdemeanour, which is a maximum of three years imprisonment only.

But if the husband commits adultery with his partner and the wife murders him on spot because of the rage and re-action , even during or after seeing the betray, then the wife will be punished with a felony of murder , where the punishment might be life time imprisonment or even death penalty.
That will mean that there is a major paradox in reasoning and fairness between the two situations in the same law and needs for sure the mentioned change.

The same law still does not follow the internet age, which we are living in, where the mentioned law does not punish all types of internet crimes like hacking , illegal access, illegal interception , data/system interference , fraud, forgery, theft , copy right infringement , terrorism, crimes against reputation and child pornography ...etc.
The only available resource is the general grounds of the law, which some times will help and in many occasions won’t be helpful or effective to protect or recover rights ,unless the crime travelled to other more advanced jurisdictions.

The labour law of Kuwait was issued in 1964, went through some minor amendments.
A new version is still under discussion and actually facing long & un-necessary delays in the parliament.
Hopefully the new law will cover major changes and reforms like, the minimum wage issue; regulate the rights for the working women, the working condition for young workers, the labour unions for nationals and expats, the low paid workers and give final solutions for the residency matters.

The law which regulates the Administrative circuit in the court, which reviews all the administrative and ministerial decisions, was issued in 1981.
The mentioned law does not allow the administrative court to review any administrative decions from the ministry of interior, especially if issued regarding the Kuwaiti nationality and consider it as a sovereign matter.
The mentioned law needs urgent amendments, to help in solving the stateless (Budouns) problem in Kuwait, by the direct intervention from the judicial power, where the mentioned amendments will help to find the justified cases and can be granted the Kuwaiti nationality depending on the proper applications for the Kuwait nationality law...

The Foreign investment law in Kuwait was issued in 1999, it was meant to meet with what many international investors waited for, which owns 100 % of the investment in Kuwait.
Also, they intended to open chances for economical and commercial growth, achieve global expansions in this market and on local levels open new sectors for employment, exchange experience and provide sophisticated training programs for Kuwaitis.
The mentioned law, did not meet expectations, is moving slow and needs real support from the government.
The only remedy is to go with the same rules of the commercial law, where formation of new companies or appointing commercial agents will be the best legal directions...

The law firm of Labeed Abdal
Website:www.lalaw.com.kw

lawyer in kuwait

To find a lawyer or a law firm in Kuwait, to represent an international company or corporate, the matter will require thorough search.
Main tool in our times is the internet, as there are many renowned legal search engines /directories like Hirosgamos.org and others, where law firms are listed depending on specialisation .expertise and experience.
Lawyers in Kuwait (according to the local law which regulates the lawyers profession) are divided in to three catigories, 1) lawyers listed in the list of the court of first instance, 2) lawyers listed in the list of the court of appeal, then the List of the court of cassation and the constitutional court, where the last list include lawyers practiced in advocacy for more than ten years in all levels of court.
One more element is the capability to have international department with English speaking lawyers and legal advisors, capable to follow the international legal needs for companies / corporations in a professional way , as that for sure will prevent any negative results while giving any legal opinions, which might in some cases happen, if the legal work was provided by non English speakers who might depend on translations.
Also, main international law firms are well recognized in the panels of lawyers in the main embassies in the country, as this process happens after full review and monitoring from the internal commercial and trade sections in the diplomatic missions.
Also memberships in international association and organizations are important elements for differentiation between law firms and their general conduct.

For more information, pls. contact the law firm of LabeedAbdal
P.O box 29175,Safat post code 13152
Tel:(965)2433707/1787
Fax:(965)22433757
Website:www.lalaw.com.kw

The Intelectual property law of Kuwait

Intellectual Property is the name used to refer to different types of creations of the mind such as musical, literary and artistic works, inventions, symbols, names, images and designs used in commerce. There are several types of intellectual property rights bundles, such as Patents, trademarks, copyrights and related rights. Under intellectual property law, the creator or otherwise holder of one of these creations has certain exclusive rights to the creative work, commercial symbol or invention by which it is covered.

Patent law:
A patent is set of exclusive rights granted by a state to an inventor or his assignee for a fixed period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an invention.
Patents are governed by Law No.4 of 1962 as amended by Law No.3 0 2001. Once the patent owner is vested with the right to use his patent, he can use it continuously for 20 years from the date of application (Article 12). Also this law facilitates renewal for every four-year period.
Apart from the Kuwaiti Nationals, the following persons are entitled to apply for patents in Kuwait.
1. Foreigners residing in Kuwait or having industrial or commercial establishment therein, foreigners who are nationals of the countries which accord Kuwait reciprocal treatment or who are residents of or have true domicile in such countries,
2. Corporations, societies, firms or associations of industrialists, producers, merchants or workers established in Kuwait or in countries which accord Public services.
3. Kuwait reciprocal treatment, if they enjoy corporate status.
Article 46 of the Patent law provides that for acts amounting to infringement of a Patent the offending party shall be punished by imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year or with fine 5000/- KD or both.
Trademark Law:
A trade mark is a type of intellectual property, and typically a name, word, phrase, logo, symbol, design, image or a combination of these elements.



Article 61 to 85 of the Commercial law of Kuwait 1981 deals with trademarks law and the definition of trademark under this law includes "pictorial elements, color combinations, any signs perceivable by sight, audio signs, and signs related to sense of smell". The list of marks that are not permissible to be registered in Kuwait, (Article 62) has been reduced considerably. It may also be noted that Kuwait has adopted the international classification of goods and services for registration of trademarks.
A trademark registration is valid for 10 years from the date of filing the application (Article 77). The trademark is renewable after every 10 years.
'Actual use' of the trademark in Kuwait is not a pre-requisite for registering a trademark in Kuwait , but non-use for 5 years or more consecutively or if there is no bonafide use of the mark, then the mark is liable to be struck-off (Article 79).
The owner of a registered trademark may commence legal proceedings for trademark infringement to prevent unauthorized use of that trade mark. Such unauthorized uses are offences punishable with imprisonment or a fine not exceeding 600/-KD or both (Article92).
Copyright Law:
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by governments, giving the creator of an original work of authorship exclusive right to it, usually for a limited time, after which the work enters the public domain.
The law No 64 of 1999 governs copyrights and provides copyright protection and penalties for copyright infringement.
Protection of the copyright of the author of a foreign language work, as well as the copyright of the translator who translated that work to another foreign language get terminated with respect to the translation of the work into the Arabic language wherein the author or the translator has failed to exercise the said right within a period of 5 years from the date of the first publication of the original translated work (Article 16).
The term of copyright protection exists till the lapse of 50 years from the death of the author and in case of joint work, the term is calculated from the death of the last surviving co-author (Article 17).


The copyright law is applicable for both the nationals and the foreigners. The said law is applicable for the work of foreign authors
a) Who are published for the first time in Kuwait,
b) Who are nationals of a Member State of International Organization of Intellectual Property Rights Convention (WIPO) that are published for the first time in any of the said countries,
c) Who are nationals of the countries which accord reciprocity rights to the nationals of Kuwait (Article 43).
Part 3 of the Code deals with Procedures and Penalties. Any person who has committed copyright infringement is liable to be punished for either one year or a fine not exceeding KD 500 or both (Article 42). The Minister of information shall appoint officials as may be needed for implementing the provisions and the Public Prosecution authority shall investigate, take action and prosecute all the offences.
The Government is planning to submit a Bill before the parliament to amend some articles of Copyright Law in order to increase fine for copyright infringement from 500/- KD to 1000/- KD and double imprisonment from 1 year to 2 years.

For furtehr information ,please contact the Law Firm of Labeed Abdal
Tel:965-2433707/1787
Fax:965-2433757
Website:www.lalaw.com.kw
Email:info@lalaw.com.kw