DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Law and Practice Contributed by: Sarah de León Perelló, Elizabeth Silfa Micheli and Naomi Rodríguez Manzueta, Headrick Rizik Álvarez & Fernández
Likewise, a utility model is considered to be any new form, configuration or disposition of ele - ments of any artifact, tool, instrument, mecha - nism or other object, or of any part of it, that allows a better or different operation, use or manufacture of the object that incorporates it, or that provides some usefulness, advantage 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 invention in multiple countries at the same time by filing an “international” patent applica - tion before the national patent office of the con - tracting 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 interna - tional application, 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 Span - ish translation of the specification, including the description, claims, drawings and sequence list - ing, if applicable, and the priority claim declara - tion and certified copy of the priority document, if applicable. Once filed, 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 inven -
tion. However, legislation contemplates some limitations as long as they do not unreasonably conflict with the normal exploitation of the patent or cause unreasonable prejudice to the legiti - mate 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 conservatory measures. The invention patent has a duration of 20 non- extendable years, commencing from the filing date of the application in the Dominican Repub - lic. 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 unrea - sonable delay in the patent granting process incurred by ONAPI’s inventions department. Compensation may be requested for a maxi - mum 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 application, the applicant must pay annual fees. The utility model patent expires after 15 non- extendable years, commencing from the filing date of the patent application in the Dominican Republic. 7.2 Trade Marks Law No 20-00 defines a trademark as any sign or combination of signs capable of graphic rep - resentation that allows the products or services of a company to be distinguished from the prod - ucts or services of other companies.
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