CAYMAN ISLANDS Law and Practice Contributed by: Daniel Lee, Sophia Scott, Kimberly Robinson and James Turner, Maples Group
6.4 Abuse of Dominant Position The Cayman Islands currently has no rules gov - erning unilateral conduct or economic depend - ency.
(d) promote innovation and facilitate eco - nomic and national development. 6.2 Merger Control Procedure The utilities service provider must notify OfReg prior to the merger transaction taking place. The utilities service provider must provide OfReg with a transaction description and all corporate and financial due diligence documents of the entities involved in the merger and any beneficial own - ers that hold 15% or more voting interest in the entities involved. To approve any merger transaction, OfReg must consider whether such merger transaction would have material adverse effects on the consumer and citizens of the Cayman Islands. If the merger transaction will not have a material adverse effect, OfReg is required under URCA to consent to the merger transaction. If the merger transaction would have adverse effects, OfReg has the option to: • declare the merger incompatible and deny consent; • give consent, subject to an order that certain conditions must be satisfied to avoid or elimi - nate such material adverse effects; or • give consent without issuing an order if OfReg is satisfied that the efficiencies put for - ward by the parties to the merger transaction outweigh any potential harm to consumers and citizens of the Cayman Islands. 6.3 Cartels The Cayman Islands has anti-competitive legis - lation for the utilities markets and sectors. The URCA prohibits the agreements by service pro - viders in the utilities markets and sectors that prevent, restrict or distort competition.
7. Intellectual Property 7.1 Patents Patents What may be registered
The Cayman Islands’ patent regime is provided by the Patents Act (2018 Revision) (the “Patents Act”). It provides for the recordal and extension (”extension”) of: • UK-registered patents; and • UK-designated European Patent Convention (EPC) patents to the Cayman Islands. While the Patents Act contemplates that Europe - an Patents with Unitary Effect (Unitary Patents) may also be extended, since the UK’s departure from the EU and subsequent withdrawal from the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court, it is unlikely that these will be properly registrable with the Cayman Islands Intellectual Property Office (CIIPO) or enforceable at law. It is pres - ently not possible to register new patents (sub - ject to an examination process) in the Cayman Islands. Rights, subsistence duration The owner of an extended patent has (expressly, by law) equivalent rights and remedies to those available in the UK. Such protection and rights will be effective from the time the right arose in the UK and subsist if the protections and rights remain in force in the UK, though no local infringement proceeding may be sustained for
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