US VIRGIN ISLANDS Law and Practice Contributed by: Marjorie (Jorie) Roberts, Duncan J.J. Kessler and Jessica McKenney, Marjorie Rawls Roberts PC
6.3 Cartels The Virgin Islands Antimonopoly Law forbids agree - ments in restraint of trade between competitors. For - bidden agreements include agreements to fix prices, fix levels of production or distribution, or allocate ter - ritories and customers. The law is construed similarly to federal antitrust law. 6.4 Abuse of Dominant Position The Virgin Islands Antimonopoly Law forbids the use of monopoly power for the purpose of excluding com - petition or manipulating prices. The law is construed similarly to federal antitrust law. The laws of the United States relating to patents, trade marks and copyrights, and the enforcement of rights arising thereunder, have the same force and effect in the USVI as in the continental United States. The Dis - trict Court of the Virgin Islands has the same jurisdic - tion in causes arising under such law as is exercised by United States district courts. Inventions are patented to grant the inventor the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale or selling the invention in the United States or import - ing the invention into the United States. Patents are issued by the USPTO. The three types of patents are utility, design and plant patents. 7. Intellectual Property 7.1 Patents Filing for a non-provisional patent requires patent law expertise, scientific knowledge, and extensive atten - tion to detail and time. An inventor may apply for a provisional patent before a non-provisional patent, providing the means to establish an early effective fil - ing date and permit the use of the term “Patent pend - ing” before filing a non-provisional patent application. The term of a provisional patent is 12 months. The term of a non-provisional, new patent is generally 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States or from the date an earlier related application was filed in special cases, subject to the payment of maintenance fees.
methods for determining an arm’s length price depend on the type of transaction and are fully set out in the Treasury Regulations issued under Code Section 482. 5.7 Anti-Evasion Rules The US tax law and regulations as applicable in the USVI contain numerous anti-abuse rules that are intended to prevent taxpayers from claiming inappro - priate tax benefits. USVI taxpayers are also subject to numerous reporting requirements, including with respect to interests in foreign assets and certain trans - actions that have the potential for tax avoidance or evasion. 5.8 Tariffs While a part of the United States, the USVI is outside the tariff zone of the United States. The USVI imposes its own flat 6% duty rate on imported items. Further, goods imported into the USVI that have undergone “substantial transformation” are able to then be shipped into the United States free of mainland tar - iffs. Thus, the USVI, given its proximity to the mainland United States, is a prime location for FDI for those seeking to work in the importation and exportation of goods with minimal impact from tumultuous develop - ments in the current US tariff regime. The USVI has laws regarding merger and consolida - tion under the General Corporation Law in 13 V.I.C. §§ 251–256, regarding conversions and mergers under the Uniform Limited Liability Company Act in 13 V.I.C. §§ 1901–1907 and regarding conversions and merg - ers under the Uniform Partnership Act in 26 V.I.C. §§ 191–198. The statutes require some sort of plan or agreement, and may also require a vote, and a filing or notification made with the Lieutenant Governor. Additionally, corporations also require a filing with the district courts where the merging entities are located. Mergers can occur with domestic USVI entities or cer - tain other entities, including foreign entities. 6. Competition Law 6.1 Merger Control Notification
6.2 Merger Control Procedure See 6.1 Merger Control Notification .
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