TURKS & CAICOS Law and Practice Contributed by: Sophie Stanbrook, Sam Kelly and Davanya Deveaux, Stanbrook Prudhoe
11. Intellectual Property and Data Protection 11.1 Intellectual Property Considerations for Approval of FDI The TCI does not have a foreign investment review regime and there are no restrictions on foreign owner - ship of intellectual property (IP) in the TCI. 11.2 Intellectual Property Protections Intellectual property is not an important aspect of screening FDI in the TCI. There are no particular sectors that are subject to additional rules or limitations. The TCI is considered to have strong intellectual prop - erty protections in accordance with international trea - ties. The main IP rights in the TCI are trade marks, patents and copyright. Trade Marks Trade marks are registrable rights. The TCI Trade Marks Act provides requirements and limitations for registration of trade marks. Marks that have no dis - tinctive character, are a result of necessity, are contra - ry to public policy or accepted principles of morality, and are of such nature as to deceive the public, are not registrable. Marks consisting of certain protected emblems, including national flags, coats of arms or insignia of Royalty, are also not registrable unless they are accompanied by the appropriate consent. Once registered, TCI trade marks are valid for ten years and renewable for additional ten-year periods.
Patents Patents are registrable and are governed by the Pat - ents Act. United Kingdom- and European-registered patents can be registered in the TCI under the TCI Patents Act and said registration would operate as an extension of the original protection. While the Patents Act provides protection from third- party use of the registered invention, this prohibition does not apply to Crown use of patented inventions. The TCI government, any public officer, and any per - son authorised in writing by the Governor may use any patented invention for the services of the Crown. For this purpose, patented inventions include patents registered in the UK. Use of patented inventions by the Crown/Crown officers may be made free of any royalty or other payment being owed to the person otherwise entitled. Copyrights Copyrights are not registrable and subsist upon cre - ation of the work. The TCI does not have encoded copyright legislation. 11.3 Data Protection and Privacy Considerations TCI has no data protection or data privacy laws or regulations in place.
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