Trademarks in the Caribbean: easy despite the diversity

There are 17 Commonwealth Caribbean jurisdictions, all governed by English common law—the principles and workings of which are regarded by many as the world’s most efficient legal system.

Nearly 30 different countries and territories make their home in the Caribbean, including four Dutch-speaking, four French, three Spanish, and one Creole/French-speaking country, Haiti—in addition to the 17 Anglophone English common law countries and territories: Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands (BVI), Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent & The Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, and Turks & Caicos Islands.

In 2010 new maps were required when the Netherlands Antilles became extinct, and gave way to the birth of three new Dutch-speaking jurisdictions, in addition to Aruba which broke off from the Netherlands Antilles back in 1986: Curacao, Sint Maarten, and BES Islands (Bonaire, St Eustatius, and Saba), also known as the Caribbean Netherlands. St Eustatius and Saba are only 17 miles apart, while Bonaire is some 500 miles distant.

Not many years ago, Anguilla split off from St Kitts & Nevis, and some will remember when Turks & Caicos was controlled by Jamaica.

Trademarking is accomplished in the French-speaking Caribbean by registering a mark in the EU. Cuba, Dominican Republic and Haiti have their own civil law trademark regimes, and Puerto Rico is covered by a US registration but also has its own local trademark regime. The four Dutch-speaking islands have their separate registers. BES trademarks are administered in Europe, at the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property.

Registration in the 17 Commonwealth Caribbean jurisdictions, unfortunately, does not afford the luxury of a treaty whereby a single registration covers them all. So the ‘common law’ jurisdictions have no common trademark law but, instead, 17 different trademark statutes, such that registration in each of the 17 common law jurisdictions is necessary.

However, comforted by its English common law security blanket, trademarking in the Commonwealth Caribbean has in recent years become increasingly sought after and successful, with relatively minimal fuss or inconvenience.

There are exceptions, of course, most notably in the Bahamas and Guyana, the statutes of which are archaic. Applications in those countries are greeted with processing at snail’s pace.

Fortunately, the underlying English law shows common sense and, apart from the several hurdles mentioned above, the process of trademarking is quite standard and conventional. Therefore, pretty much any reasonably normal trade or service mark can now be registered throughout the Caribbean across the full range of goods and services in any of the international classes, via multi-class applications.

The official objections are fairly routine and the registries provide relatively efficient handling of oppositions, so the matter of trademarking in the Caribbean has become pretty standard stuff —with certain exceptions, of course.

Recently arrived into the modern era is Grenada, which just this summer put into force a whole new trademarks statute, bringing it into line with modern norms and practice. Soon the BVI is to join the fold of modern trademark regimes. It’s about time: the BVI trademarks statute dates from 1887.

Belize also deserves special mention. There, the registry seems to make sport of official objections, sometimes sending them back and forth like a pingpong ball in succession, as and when fresh points occur to the examiner. Such sport can be costly, in terms of time, aggravation and expense. But apart from these aberrations, the timetable forecast for most applicants is good.

So, welcome to the microcosmic world of nearly 30 different Caribbean trademark jurisdictions. Roll up your sleeves to keep track of applications in France and in four Dutch, two Spanish, and 17 English-speaking jurisdictions—plus Haiti if, indeed, the entire Caribbean is to be covered.

There are some surprises: Grenada has increased its official fees by 2000 percent, while Bermuda topped up its already top-of-the-heap fees to $440 for every class registration. At the other end of the scale, Guyana charges the least in the Caribbean, not even 10 percent of Bermuda’s fees, but with a twist: the slowest processing in the Caribbean. In between these extremes are all the others—all different, but seldom said to be too burdensome.

With English common law comes official enforcement when necessary, court-supported enforcement that is accessible, efficient, reliable and, of course, costly. The resources and might of customs can also be engaged to assist.

As long as those fleets of cruise ships and Caribbean-bound planes continue to deliver tourists and dollars to those exotic Caribbean islands, the goods they buy and bring home or consume there will continue to need trademarks.