Antigua and Barbuda: New law, new opportunities
The Patents Act, 2018 and accompanying Patents Regulations, 2018, came into force on November 22, 2018. The new act supersedes the Patents Act 2012, which was never fully implemented due to a lack of accompanying regulations, similar to the Patents Act 2003 which came before it.
The implementation of the new law is great news for applicants of pending patent applications in Antigua and Barbuda. Patent applications were previously accepted, but not examined or further processed by the Antigua and Barbuda Intellectual Property Office (IPO). In accordance with the act’s transitional provisions, pending applications will now finally be examined upon the receipt of a request for substantive examination and publication filed at the IPO along with payment of EC$675 ($250).
Below, we take a look at what qualifies for patent protection under the new act, the new application process and the post-grant requirements. We also explore the actions to be taken by the owners of pending applications under the repealed law and the corresponding deadlines for action (see ‘Transitional Provisions’ section below). Lastly, we review the application of the Patent Cooperation Treaty in Antigua and Barbuda.
Patentable inventions
The act provides patent protections to inventions which are new, involve an inventive step and are capable of industrial application. This applies whether the invention relates to a product or a process.
