HAITI Law and Practice Contributed by: Vanessa Abdel-Razak, Ludsen Saint-Phar and Webster Registre, Cabinet Abdel-Razak & Associés
ly and is not fully available online. Copyrights may be registered by individual authors or legal entities holding economic rights, and foreign applicants are not required by statute to be represented by locally licensed counsel. There are no mandatory formali - ties, including notices or symbols, and the absence of registration or notice does not affect the existence, validity or enforceability of copyright. 3.8 Copyright Application Requirements Copyright registration is handled administratively before the BHDA and is optional. An applicant must file a written application identifying the work and the rights holder, provide proof of identity of the author or owner (and, where applicable, evidence of trans - fer of economic rights), and submit a deposit copy of the work (or a representative sample, depending on the category), together with basic bibliographic information such as title, date of creation, and nature of the work. Applications may be filed by individuals or legal entities, including foreign applicants, and no prior publication is required. Filing fees are payable and are set administratively by the BHDA; they are generally modest and vary depending on the type of work and the service requested, with exact amounts Copyright registration may be refused on absolute grounds where the application fails to meet statu - tory requirements, notably if the subject matter is not eligible for copyright protection, if it lacks original - ity, if it is purely functional or technical, or if required formal elements (such as identification of the work, authorship or a deposit copy) are missing or mani - festly deficient. Applicants may challenge a refusal, first through administrative review within the copy - right authority and, if necessary, by recourse to the competent courts, as there is no specialised copyright tribunal. Clerical errors or incorrect information in an application may generally be corrected or amended upon request, provided the correction does not alter the identity of the work or prejudice third-party rights. 3.10 Related Rights confirmed at the time of filing. 3.9 Refusal of Registration In Haiti, a work protected by copyright, such as a logo, graphic design or stylised word – may also be protected under trade mark law or related rights, pro -
vided it independently meets the legal requirements of each regime. Copyright protects the original creative expression, while trade mark law protects the sign insofar as it functions as an indicator of commercial origin, and these protections may coexist cumula - tively. Haitian law does not limit the scope of copy - right protection because a work is also protected as a trade mark, nor does trade mark protection restrict the application of copyright; each body of law oper - ates independently, subject to its own conditions and purposes, and any overlap is addressed on a case-by- case basis through general principles such as original - ity, distinctiveness and good faith. In Haiti, trade mark rights are primarily registration- based: full and enforceable trade mark rights arise through registration with the Trade Mark Office, and mere use of a sign does not confer autonomous trade mark rights as such, although prior use may be rel - evant under unfair competition principles. Registration provides significant legal benefits, including exclusive nationwide rights, a presumption of ownership and validity, standing to oppose later applications, and a clearer basis for enforcement actions. As to reg - istrability, all marks must be distinctive and not fall under absolute grounds for refusal; descriptive or non-traditional marks (such as trade dress, shapes or product configurations) face a higher threshold and, in practice, must demonstrate acquired distinctive - ness (secondary meaning) to be registrable, whereas inherently distinctive word or figurative marks do not require such proof. 4.2 Trade Mark Register 4. Trade Mark Registrations and Applications 4.1 Trade Mark Registration Haiti maintains a national trade mark register admin - istered by the Trade Mark Office, which records pend - ing applications and registrations; the register exists as a matter of law and practice, but public access is limited, as there is no fully searchable online data - base and records are consulted through adminis - trative searches and, where necessary, the official gazette ( Le Moniteur ) and physical files. Haiti does not operate separate registers (such as principal and
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