BST, Doha
Answer: According to Article 18 of the Trademark Laws, the duration of the protection of a mark shall be 10 years from the date of filing the application for registration. The owner of the mark shall have the right to the continuation of the protection for further consecutive periods of 10 years each by a renewal of the registration. The renewal shall be effected merely by paying the renewal fees. The fee must be paid in the course of the final year of the current protection period. A grace period of six months shall be granted for the payment of the renewal fee after the expiry of the current protection period with prescribed additional fee. A mark which is not renewed cannot be registered by a third party in respect of identical or similar goods or services until at least three years have elapsed after it was not renewed.
Procedure for notice to accused
Q: I have filed a criminal case against my neighbour but he has not received any notice on that case. How does the police take action on such complaints? When I enquired they said the case has been transferred to public prosecution. What is the procedure as per law for appearance of the accused? Will he receive any notice for appearance? Please advise.
AK, Doha
A: According to Article 104 of the Criminal procedure code, the Public Prosecution may issue an order for the suspect to be present at a specified time, or to be arrested and summoned. Each order shall include the details of the suspect, the attributed charge, the date of the order, the name of the Public Prosecution member and with signature, and the official stamp of the Public Prosecution’s office. Orders shall be notified to the suspect by the public authority officers, with a copy thereof to be handed to the suspect. The arrest warrant and summons shall also include the instruction to public authority officers to arrest the suspect and bring him before the Public Prosecution by force if he refuses to come voluntarily.
Company refuses to pay overtime
Q: Our company refused to pay the overtime benefits stating that we have signed the contract for working 11 hours a day and in such a case, we are not entitled for overtime benefits. Does signing the contract waive the right to get overtime benefits? What is the law in this regard? Please advise.
SS, Doha
A: It is illegal for a company to ask a worker to put in extra hours without paying additional remuneration. The employer shall pay to the worker for the additional working hours and employees have the right to claim remuneration for overtime. As per Article 73 of the Labour Law, the maximum working hours shall be eight hours per day and the worker shall not be asked to work for more than two hours a day after the normal hours unless the work is necessary for the prevention of gross loss or dangerous accident or for the repair or alleviation of the consequences of the said loss or accident.
Payment claim by subcontractors
Q: We are subcontractors for a construction project in Doha and the work was completed without delay. Now the contractor is refusing to pay the money stating baseless reasons. In the present situation, our company faces difficulty to pay our creditors. We came to know that the employer has not paid the contractor because of some other issues and in such a case, can we approach the employer directly for the payment? Please advise.
SJ, Doha
A: Under Article 702 of the Qatar Civil Code, the subcontractors, employees and labourers are entitled to claim payment directly from employers if the amount claimed does not exceed the amount owed by the employer to the main contractor at the time the claim is filed. The subcontractors must establish that the sum is due for payment and unpaid by the main contractor. The employer may not be obliged to pay such sum if the sum has already been paid to the main contractor. In such a situation, the subcontractor should consider the other remedies available against the main contractor.
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LEGAL SYSTEM IN QATAR
According to Article 15 of Criminal Procedure Code, the period for the expiration of the criminal action shall be interrupted by the investigation procedures, accusation, trial, criminal order, or evidential procedures conducted against the suspect, or the procedures of which he has been officially notified. The new period shall be applied as from the date of interruption. If there are multiple interrupted procedures, the period shall be calculated as from the date of the last procedure.
If there are many defendants in a crime, the interruption of the period as to any of them shall result in interruption for the others, even if no conclusive actions with regard to the period were undertaken against them.
As per Article 17, conciliation may be conducted in cases of violation. The competent investigation officer or the Public Prosecution member shall, when drafting the minute, offer conciliation to the suspect or his agent, and record this in the minutes and in his own records. The suspect may request conciliation in the former case. The suspect who accepts conciliation shall pay, within fifteen days as from the day of the offer of conciliation, or upon the approval of the Public Prosecution of its offered conciliation, an amount equal to one quarter of the maximum fine prescribed for the violation, or the minimum fine prescribed for it, whichever is greater. The payment shall be made to the court treasury, the Public Prosecution or to any other public officer authorised by the Public Prosecutor.
The right of the suspect to the conciliation shall neither lapse by reason of the expiry of the payment time, nor by reason of the referral of the criminal action to a court with jurisdiction, if a payment of an amount equivalent to half of the maximum fine prescribed for the violation, or the minimum fine prescribed for it, whichever is greater, is paid. The criminal action shall expire upon payment of the conciliation amount. In the event of conciliation, the execution of the criminal penalty shall be suspended after the issuance of the court ruling and all the related criminal effects shall be removed.
The victim may, in cases of the misdemeanors to which conciliation is applicable in the Penal law or any other law, request the Public Prosecution or the court considering the case, as the case may be, to prove his conciliation with the suspect. The request for conciliation in this case shall be submitted by the victim or the suspect or by the attorney of any of them, subject to the complaint’s domestic procedural provisions in this Law.
The criminal action shall expire in this case by conciliation. The Public Prosecutor may, in crimes against the national economy, for the requirements of the public interest, after the conclusion of the investigation, and before the referral of the criminal action to court, accept a compromise including the suspect returning the money, the subject matter of the crime, and any achieved gain or benefit he obtained, as well as due compensations. After the execution of the compromise, the Public Prosecutor shall issue an order that the institution of the criminal action is groundless.
According to Article 19, whoever suffers direct personal damage from the crime may claim civil rights against the suspect during the investigation or before the court considering the criminal action at any stage of the action up to the closing arguments. The same shall not be permitted before the Court of Appeal.