Prosecution Guidelines in Dominican Republic

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You will find here all the important information about filing trademarks, designs and patents.
GDP:
$121.40 billion
Imports:
$24.39 billion
Population:
11.33 million
Total area:
48,442 km2
Oficial languages:
Spanish
Currency:
Dominican Peso (RD$) (DOP)
Local time:
HH:MM:SS
Dominican Republic
WIPO-administered Treaties:
  • Contracting Party of The Paris Convention: YES.
  • Contracting Party of The Hague Agreement on Industrial Designs: NO.
Applicable Law:

Law 20-00 on Industrial Property, modified by Law 424-06 on Implementation of the DR-CAFTa; TRIPS.

Grace period for filing applications, from disclosure:

12 months.

Multiple design applications -one application for different embodiments- available:

YES, 20 designs maximum, provided that they relate to products belonging to the same category in the Locarno Classification.

Formal filing requirements:
  • Power of attorney, legalized by means of the Apostille.
  • Priority document (certified), when application.
  • Description in the form provided by the Invention Department.
  • Assignment of the Design, duly legalized by means of the Apostille.
Locarno classification:

Not part of the Lorcano Agreement, but the Locarno Classification is used in practice.

Deferred publication:

NO.

Registration Proceeding Outline:
  • Filing and payment of examination fees.
  • Formal examination.
  • Publication, upon payment of the corresponding fee.
  • Oppositions.
  • Substantive examination (after 6 months from filing), considering any oppositions filed.
  • Decision.
  • Publication of granting decision, upon payment of the corresponding fee, in order to obtain the Registration Certificate.
Opposition:

YES, before granting, within 30 days from the publication. Nullity action is also possible.

Average time from filing to grant:

8-10 months.

Term of Protection and Maintenance:

5 years, can be extended to 15 years through two successive five-year extensions.

Link:
WIPO-administered Treaties:

Contracting Party of The Paris Convention: YES.

Contracting Party of The Madrid System: NO.

Trademark Law in force:

Industrial Property Law 20-00.

Classification:

Nice classification, 13th edition.

Multiclass Applications:

YES.

Registrable trademarks:

All distinctive and graphically representable signs, words, names, acronyms, letters, numbers, devices, emblems, colors, combinations or shades of colors, three-dimensional forms, the three-dimensional form of a good or its packaging, sounds and smells.

Formal filing requirements:
  • Power of Attorney merely signed (no legalisation and no notarisation required) within 30 days from the official request.
  • Certified copy of the priority application and its translation into Spanish within 3 months from the application date.
Examination:
  • Absolute grounds for refusal: YES.
  • Relative grounds for refusal: YES.
Opposition period:

45 days from the publication date.

Average time from filing to grant:

Approximately 3-4 months unless any obstacles were raised.

Term of protection:

10 years from the date of registration.

Use requirements:

YES. Cancellation can be requested once the registration has been issued for a minimum of three years. Partial cancellation is possible.

Renewal terms:

6 months prior to renewal date.

Grace period:

6 months.

Link:
WIPO-administered Treaties:

Contracting Party of The Paris Convention: YES.

Contracting Party of The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT): YES. Due term for entry into national phase: 30 months.

Patent Law in force:

IP Law 20-00 dated May 8, 2000 (modified by Law 424-2006 dated November 20, 2006).

Types of protection available:
  • Patent of Invention.
  • Utility Model.
First filing requirements with the local Patent Office for inventions made by nationals:

NO.

Formal filing requirements:
  • Power of Attorney duly notarized and legalized by apostille or up to the Dominican Republic consulate within 60 days from office action.
  • Assignment document from the inventors duly notarized and legalized within 60 days from office action. Not required under certain circumstances (not required for entry into national phase).
  • Certified copy of priority application within 3 months from filing, together with Spanish translation from filing (not required for entry into national phase of PCT applications provided that PCT/IB304 form is available).
Filing of the patent application in a foreign language:

Accepted. Late submission of the Spanish translation is possible within 60 calendar days from office action.

Substantive examination must be requested by the applicant:

YES, within 12 months from publication.

Search report must be requested by the applicant:

NO.

Observations by third parties:

YES, within 60 calendar days from publication.

Opposition:

NO.

Average time from filing to grant:

4 years.

Term of protection for patents:

20 years from filing date.

Term of protection for utility models:

15 years from filing date.

Differences between utility model and patent:

UM suitable for utensils, instruments, tools, apparatus, devices, or any parts or improvements thereof, but not process or use patents; chemical, metallurgic or related substance or composition products; matter excluded from protection for patent invention; lower threshold for inventive step.

Maintenance:

Yearly also during prosecution of the application for patents. Payments for periods of 5 years for Utility models.

Marking of the product with the application/ patent number:

NOT mandatory.

Compulsory licensing:

YES.

Link:

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