INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IN THE FALKLAND ISLANDS
The Falkland Islands does not have a specific trademark law; therefore, it is not possible to get a trademark registered in the Falkland Islands directly. The only way to obtain trademark protection for a proposed mark is by filing a United Kingdom (UK) trademark application. UK registrations automatically provide trademark protection in the Falkland Islands with effect from the date of the underlying registration.
The Falkland Islands is not a signatory to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). National phase filing of a PCT patent is not possible.
A patent can be registered in the Falkland Islands pursuant to the Registration of the United Kingdom Patents Ordinance, 1930. The application for registration must be made within three (03) years of the grant of the UK or EP (UK) patent registration.
It usually takes around two (02) months for the Registrar General for the Falkland Islands at the Town Hall to process an application for registration. Paris Convention priority cannot be claimed. Once the registration is complete, the Registrar General will issue a Certificate of Registration.
Patent registrations are valid for the same period as specified on the underlying UK or EP (UK) registration, on which it is based.
Once a patent gets registered in the Falkland Islands, there is an annual renewal fee payable to the UK Government every year. For a UK-based patent, the first fee is due on the 4th anniversary of the filing date of the underlying UK registration. For an EP (UK)-based patent, the first fee is due on the 1st anniversary of the grant of the patent.
The Falkland Islands allow automatic extension of a UK registered industrial design without the need for local registration.
The Falkland Islands is a signatory to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, the Universal Copyright Convention, and the WIPO Copyright Treaty.
The Copyright Act 1956 is the basic legislation governing copyright protection in the Falkland Islands.
The standard copyright protection term lasts for the lifetime of the author plus fifty (50) years following his death. However, the duration of copyright protection varies depending on the type of work.
Where the first publication of a literary, dramatic, musical, or artistic work, other than a photograph, is anonymous or pseudonymous, the copyright subsisting in that work shall continue to subsist until the end of the period of fifty (50) years from the end of the calendar year, in which the work was first published, and shall then expire.