As part of a suite of legislation aimed generally at facilitating the diversification of the local economy from its current reliance on financial services and tourism, the Cayman Islands has enacted the Patents and Trade Marks Law, 2011.
The new law repealed the Patents and Trade Marks Law (2010 Revision, the old law) and is the first phase in the review and updating of the main statutory underpinning of intellectual property law in the Islands.
Significant defects in the old law included the fact that it did not allow for: renewal of patents; abandonment of patents and trademarks; or strike-off of patents and trademarks for non-payment of fees. The old law also allowed any person, regardless of location, qualification or experience, to act as a patent and trademark agent. These matters have all been addressed in the new law.
Significantly, under the new law, only registered agents may conduct business with the Cayman Islands Registry of Patents and Trade Marks. All patent and trademark agents must be legally and ordinarily resident within the jurisdiction and must meet the requirements to be prescribed in the proposed regulations.
The rest of this article is locked for subscribers only. Please login to continue reading.
If you don't have a login, you will need to purchase a subscription to gain access to this article, including all our online content. Please use this link and follow the steps.
For multi-user price options, or to check if your company has an existing subscription to us that we can add you to for FREE, please email Atif Choudhury at achoudhury@worldipreview.com
IP law revision, Cayman Islands Patents and Trade Marks law, Community trademarks
