IP protection in Peru
IP in Peru is protected by the Andean Community Law, which covers Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, and is mainly governed by Decision 486 for Patents and Trademarks, and Act 822 for Copyright and related rights.
Other norms that must be taken into consideration are Act 27444, which regulates the general administrative procedure in Peru, and Legislative Decree 1075, which approves supplementary provisions to Decision 486.
The administrative agency in charge of IP matters is the National Institute for the Defense of Competition and Protection of Intellectual Property (Indecopi), which was founded in November 1992 and is recognised as one of the most efficient administrative agencies in Latin America. Because Peru’s legal framework provides safe, fast and easy proceedings for the registration of patents, trademarks and copyright, many companies, businesspeople, inventors and entrepreneurs have succeeded in protecting their rights.
Peru is a member of the Pacific Alliance, together with Chile, Colombia and Mexico. During the past few years, the alliance’s members have been exchanging information of interest to allow the construction of an action plan regarding IP matters, which ultimately will benefit the users of the IP system.
Patents
In Peru, inventions, utility models and industrial designs are patentable, provided that they are new, involve an inventive step and are industrially applicable. An applicant can also obtain protection certificates for layout designs of integrated circuits and new plant varieties, and authorisation certificates to use the collective knowledge of indigenous peoples.
An invention, utility model or industrial design:
May be deemed new when it is not included in the state of the art;
Shall be regarded as involving an inventive step when it is neither obvious nor obviously derived from the state of the art; and
May be deemed as industrially applicable when its subject matter may be produced or used in any type of industry.
The state of the art comprises everything that has been made available to the public by written or oral description, use, marketing, or any other means prior to the filing date of the patent or the priority claimed.
