CONCEPT:

Patentable inventions are those new products or procedures that comply with the required level of novelty, inventiveness and industrial applicability necessary for registration and protection.

CREATIONS / INVENTIONS REGRISTRATION PROCESS

PRESENTATION:

In order to initiate a patent application registration procedure, you must submit the Patent Request form issued by the Patent Office (SAPI ), together with all the required documentation, payment of the government fees and taxes for the first annual payment.

RECEPTION:

The Patent Office (SAPI) will stamp your application and assign a number to it and thereby you are granted the Right of Priority with regards to all other applications received subsequently.

FORMAL REVIEW:

Formal review and approval to proceed with application: After submission, the application is reviewed with regards to its form. If all is in order, the Patent Office (SAPI) will accept the proceeding and order its publication in the press.

Publication: After completing successfully the formal review and once the order of press publication has been issued and notified in the Official Bulletin, the applicant must instruct and pay for the publication of the application abstract in a journal of national circulation, in accordance with the stipulations of the Industrial Property Law. The abstract must be published three (3) times with intervals of ten (10) days between each publication. Once the publication has been done, it must be submitted to the Patent Office (SAPI). If the publication is not made as indicated, then the application will be held as abandoned and its priority will be declared to have extinguished.

PUBLICATION

The publication only takes place automatically in the Industrial Property Bulletin after the publication in the journal, here previously identified. Third parties have thirty (30) working days after publication in the Official Bulletin to present their statements of opposition in accordance with any of the Industrial Property Law clauses.

REVIEW OF CONTENT:

The Patent Office will carry out a review of content after the end of the 30 working days of publication of the application in the Official Bulletin of the Patent Office. This review serves to identify whether the invention is registrable. Likewise, a national and international state of the art research is conducted in order to establish the absolute or relative novelty, as applicable and whether there are any other causes of non-registrability according to the law. Should the review of content conclude without any objections to the registration, then the application is accepted and the applicant has a term of 30 working days to pay and confirm payment of registry fees or other final rights and it will be his responsibility to keep up to date with the payment of the respective annual fees until the registration expires.

IF THERE ARE OBSERVATIONS WITH REGARDS TO THE CONTENT:

Should the Patent Office (SAPI) have some observations of impediment or doubts with regards to some aspects of the application, then SAPI will notify the interested party or the respective representative of the causes of non-registrability via publication in the Official Bulletin. The applicant then has 30 working days (with the option to apply for an extension of 60 additional working days) to protest. After the expiry of the term and having submitted the statement with regards to the observations of content, the registrar will proceed according to the statement submitted. Should the application be rejected, then an appeal for reconsideration can be submitted to the same analyst and should the Decision of Rejection be confirmed, then an appeal can be submitted within 15 working days to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

IF THERE ARE OPPOSITIONS:

If an opposition is presented within 30 working days after publication of the application abstract in the Official Bulletin, then the application will be placed on hold and submitted for analysis to the Legal Department of the Patent Office.

The applicant will be notified by his agent or representative about the opposition or oppositions via an Official Notification published in the Official Bulletin. He then can proceed to obtain a copy of the opposition statement and has a term of 30 working days to submit a response. If there is no statement submitted to contest the opposition, then the application is considered to have been abandoned and its priority extinguishes.
If the statement regarding the oppositions is submitted, then the Patent Office will decide whether or not to accept the application.

After publication of the resolution of rejection of the opposition in the Official Bulletin, the application automatically is considered as accepted and the registration fees have to be paid within 30 working days following the notification in the Official Bulletin.

REGISTRY:

After payment of the corresponding fees, the Patent Office will assign a registry number, establishing the date of entry in force as well as the date of expiry of the exclusivity, which currently lasts ten (10) years for invention patents, improvements to industrial models or designs and five (5) years for introduction patents, as long as the respective annual fees are received by the Patent Office.