Author: Riyadh Al-Balushi

The Supreme Court confirmed that a PhD thesis is protected by copyright and that the the signing of research agreement for a component of the research between the PhD researcher and the university does not make the PhD thesis the property of the university.

In a copyright infringement dispute, the Supreme Court set aside a judgment awarding compensation for copyright infringement due to the failure of the trial court to base the compensation amount on a quantification methodology that takes into account the damage suffered as a result of the copyright infringement.

The Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs (MJLA) held that the Oman Housing Bank, a government-owned enterprise under the Oman Investment Authority, is exempt from value added tax (VAT).

The Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs (MJLA) deemed that the allocation of a government building to a government entity does not automatically make that government entity a party to a construction contract relating to that building when another government entity has been explicitly assigned the obligations relating to this contract by royal decree.

The Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs (MJLA) deemed that the first sale of real estate by the developer in integrated tourism complexes is not exempt from value added tax (VAT).

The Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs (MJLA) deemed the Corporate Governance Principles for Government-Owned Companies issued by the Capital Market Authority (CMA) to be invalid due to the failure of the CMA to publish such principles in the Official Gazette and the lack of competence of the Executive President of the CMA to issue them. The MJLA also held that companies subordinate to the Oman Investment Authority are not exempt from the scope of such principles.

The Supreme Court held that an employer is liable for the conduct of an employee as long as the employee is seen as an apparent agent of the employer, even if the employee conducts activities not authorised by the employer and even if the employer does not gain profit from these activities.