DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Law and Practice Contributed by: Sarah de León Perelló, Elizabeth Silfa Micheli and Naomi Rodríguez Manzueta, Headrick Rizik Álvarez & Fernández
7. Intellectual Property 7.1 Patents
ONAPI’s inventions department oversees the formal examination of merits of the application. The scope of the patent protection is to exclude third parties from the exploitation of the invention. How - ever, legislation contemplates some limitations as long as they do not unreasonably conflict with the normal exploitation of the patent or cause unreason - able prejudice to the legitimate interests of the patent holder, taking into account the legitimate interests of third parties. The law establishes criminal and economic sanctions for the infringement of a patent. The owner of a patent can initiate civil or criminal actions before a court with jurisdiction against any person who infringes the rights granted by the law, including petitioning for conserva - tory measures. The invention patent has a duration of 20 non-extend - able years, commencing from the filing date of the application in the Dominican Republic. However, under DR-CAFTA and Law No 20-00, the titleholder of a patent may request a patent term adjustment (PTA) if there is an unreasonable delay in the patent granting process incurred by ONAPI’s inventions department. Compensation may be requested for a maximum of three years if ONAPI incurs in a delay of more than five years in the granting of the patent or more than three years from the date of the request for an examination on the merits. To maintain a patent or a patent applica - tion, the applicant must pay annual fees. The utility model patent expires after 15 non-extend - able years, commencing from the filing date of the patent application in the Dominican Republic. 7.2 Trade Marks Law No 20-00 defines a trade mark as any sign or combination of signs capable of graphic representa - tion that allows the products or services of a company to be distinguished from the products or services of other companies. The right to the exclusive use of a trademark is acquired through its registration before ONAPI.
A patent is an exclusive right granted by the Domini - can state to inventions and utility models and gives the inventor exclusivity for its exploitation for a fixed period of time. According to Law No 20-00 on Indus - trial Property (“Law No 20-00”), an invention is any idea or creation of the human intellect capable of being applied to industry that meets the patentability conditions set forth in the applicable legal framework and may refer to a product or a procedure. To be patentable, the invention must be capable of indus - trial application, be novel and have an inventive level. Likewise, a utility model is considered to be any new form, configuration or disposition of elements of any artifact, tool, instrument, mechanism or other object, or of any part of it, that allows a better or different operation, use or manufacture of the object that incor - porates it, or that provides some usefulness, advan - tage or technical effect. The right to the patent belongs to the inventor and is obtained through its registration before ONAPI’s inventions department. However, it can be transferred. The Dominican Republic is a contracting party to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). The PCT is an international co-operation agreement that allows applicants to apply for patent protection for an inven - tion in multiple countries at the same time by filing an “international” patent application before the national patent office of the contracting state of the nationality or domicile of the applicant or before the International Office of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Consequently, the Dominican Republic can be automatically designated in any international appli - cation, and nationals and residents of the Dominican Republic have the right to file applications under the PCT. The patent application must contain the details of the applicant and the inventor(s), and a Spanish trans - lation of the specification, including the description, claims, drawings and sequence listing, if applicable, and the priority claim declaration and certified copy of the priority document, if applicable. Once filed,
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