Few, if any, patents have been granted in Kuwait in recent years. However, there are signs that this state of affairs may be about to change. The Kuwaiti law has been amended. In particular, responsibility for patents has been transferred to the Under Secretary for Trade and Industry from the Minister of Finance and Economy and the term of patents has been extended to twenty years from filing, with renewal fees being due every four years. Additionally new penalties for patent infringement have been adopted including the possibility of imprisonment for up to two years.

The new law also extends the period of protection for designs so that these will now be protected for an initial period of ten years with the possibility of renewal for a further period of five years.

Finally the new law lays the basis for introduction of a system of protection for utility models for a period of seven years from filing and for the protection of integrated circuits as a type of design.