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INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IN THE BAHAMAS

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Opposition Term

01 Month

Registration Term

14 Years

First Renewal Term

14 Years

Subsequent Renewal Term

14 Years

  • The primary law governing trademark registration and protection in The Bahamas is The Trademarks Act (6/1906), as amended, which is supplemented by The Trademarks Rules (175/1948).

  • The Bahamas is a party to the Paris Convention and the World Intellectual Property Organization Convention.

  • Trademark ownership in the nation is determined on a ‘first-to-use’ basis.

  • Trademarks are regulated by the Intellectual Property Section of the Registrar General's Department, which falls under the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Legal Affairs.

  • The Bahamas has its own classification system. Nice Classification is not effective in this jurisdiction. Multi-class applications are not allowed.

  • Oppositions must be made within one (01) month of the mark’s advertisement for opposition. If the grounds for the opposition include similarity to registered marks, the opponent must cite those marks’ registration numbers and the number of the Gazette in which they were advertised. Periods are provided for the applicant and opponent to submit evidence and argument concerning the opposition. The registrar will then notice a hearing for the opposition. For non-resident applicants or opponents, the registrar may require a bond or other security for costs.

  • It usually takes about six (06) years for the Registrar General’s Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to process an application for registration. Once the registration is complete, the Registrar General will issue a Certificate of Registration.

  • In The Bahamas, registered trademarks have a validity of fourteen (14) years from the date of application, which can be further renewed indefinitely for successive periods of fourteen (14) years each. 

  • The owner can renew the registered trademark late, but must do so within thirty (30) days of the non-renewal advertisement upon payment of a late fee. Beyond that period, a mark may be restored, on payment of additional fees, if the owner satisfies the Registrar that restoration is just.

  • If a trademark is not used for five (05) years after registration, it may be cancelled.  A mark can be cancelled for non-use if the registration was made without a bona fide intention to use the mark and no bona fide use has occurred. To have the mark cancelled for non-use, an aggrieved party must make an application to the courts.

  • The Patents Act 2015 (the Act) - deals with the mechanism of patent protection in Bahamas.

  • The Bahamas is not a signatory to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). National phase filing of a PCT patent is not possible.

  • A patent application claiming priority of invention of one or more earlier applications filed in a country that is a party to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and is filed within twelve (12) months of the prior application will typically contain a declaration of such action.

  • In The Bahamas, an invention that satisfies the conditions of originality, novelty, inventive step, and industrial applicability, subjects to patentability. Process patent and product patent are the two types of patents that can be protected.

  • Every application for patent protection is required to be made in the form prescribed and should be filed at the Industrial Property Office.

  • The types of patent applications that can be filed include Non-Convention Application and Convention Application.

  • It usually takes about six (06) years for the Registrar General’s Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to process an application for registration. Once the registration is complete, the Registrar General will issue a Certificate of Registration.

  • Pre-grant opposition against a patent application can be raised within six (06) months from the date of publication of the application.

  • The duration of patent protection is determined by the legislation currently in force. Unlike before, under the Patents Act 2015, the duration, as originally granted under the Industrial Property Act, is now from sixteen (16) to twenty (20) years.

  • Once a patent has been registered in The Bahamas, there is an annuity payable to the Bahamian Government every year. The first fee is due on the anniversary of the fourth year of filing and each subsequent anniversary thereafter. Failure to pay an annuity will result in the rights protected by the registration being placed in abeyance. The same will effectively prevent any enforcement action from being taken.

  • A grace period of six (06) months, however, is allowed for the late payment of an annuity upon submission of a late fee. After this period expires, the patent application shall be deemed to have been withdrawn.

  • The Industrial Property Act, 1965 (CH.324) (as amended up to Act No. 24 of 1994) - governs and deals with the mechanism of registration of industrial designs in The Bahamas.

  • For getting an industrial design registered in The Bahamas, an application has to be filed with the Registrar General, which administers the entire process of registration. The Registrar General shall grant a certificate of deposit in the prescribed form to the proprietor of a design when the claim to design copyright is deposited.

  • Utility model protection isn't provided under industrial design protection in the nation.

  • Opposition against an industrial design application can't be raised in Bahamas. However, any person interested may apply to the court for cancellation of the deposit on the basis of the grounds laid under section 39 of the said law.

  • Design copyright in a design shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, subsist for a period of five (05) years from the date of deposit.

  • The Registrar General shall extend the period of copyright for a second period of five (05) years from the expiration of the original period and for a third period of five (05) years from the expiration of the second period if an application for extension of the period of copyright for the second or third period is made before the expiration of the original period or the second period, as the case may be, and if the prescribed fee is paid before the expiration of the relevant period, or if such application is made and the said fee is paid within such further period (not exceeding six (06) months) as may be specified in a request made to the Registrar General and accompanied by the prescribed additional fee.

  • The Copyright Regulations, 1999 - is the basic legislation governing copyright protection in The Bahamas.

  • The Bahamas is a member country of the Berne Convention.

  • Copyright is effectively an automatic right that the owner can assert over his or her creative expression. While in some countries copyright protection is automatic as soon as the work is saved in material form, registering for copyright in The Bahamas is extremely important for the copyright holder to have the all-important proof of copyright.

  • Copyright endures for the lifetime of the author plus seventy (70) years, and in the case of joint authorship, the protections ends seventy (70) years after the death of the last surviving author.

  • Where the author is anonymous or pseudonymous, the period of copyright protection is either seventy (70) years from its first publication, or hundred (100) years from its creation - whichever expires first.

  • In computer-generated works, copyright expires at the end of seventy (70) years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was created.