US VIRGIN ISLANDS LAW AND PRACTICE Contributed by: Marjorie Roberts, Sean Foster, Renée Marie André, Lisa Wisehart, David Bornn, Duncan J. J. Kessler and Jessica McKenney, Marjorie Rawls Roberts PC
Copyright Law The 1976 Copyright Act generally gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to reproduce the copy - righted work, to prepare derivative works, to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work, to perform the copyrighted work publicly or to display the copyrighted work publicly. The copyright protects the form of expression rather than the subject matter of the writing. Copyrights are registered by the Copy - right Office of the Library of Congress, and applicants may file paper or online applications. For works cre - ated after 1 January 1978, a copyright lasts 70 years after the author’s death. A person, association or entity doing business in the USVI under any name other than its own, whether they are a resident or nonresident, must have their trade- name approved, file an application for the tradename, and pay a USD50 fee to the Division. A certificate of tradename is issued for a period of two years and is renewable. If the party or parties fail to renew its tradename within six months of the expiration date, the tradename becomes available to anyone who files for the tradename and pays the required fee. If a person, association or entity doing business in the USVI fails to or refuses to obtain a tradename cer - tificate, the USVI Attorney General may institute an action in the Virgin Islands District Court to enjoin the conduct of the business. Further, the violating entity may not commence or maintain any court action in the USVI. The USVI enacted the Uniform Trade Secrets Act in 2005. The act defines a trade secret as information, including a process, technique, method, device, pro - gram, compilation, pattern or formula that derives actual or potential economic value by not being gen - erally known to or readily ascertainable by other per - sons who could obtain economic value from its use or disclosure, and which is the subject of reasonable efforts to maintain its secrecy. The act provides for injunctive relief and damages. 11.3 Data Protection and Privacy Considerations The USVI does not have territorial statutes or regula - tions governing data protection generally. Contracts
ent is generally twenty years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States or from the date an earlier related application was filed in special cases, subject to the payment of maintenance fees. US patent grants are effective only within the United States, US territories, and US pos - sessions. To apply for a provisional or a non-provisional pat - ent, an inventor may file a paper or online application. Once a patent is issued, the patentee must enforce the patent without the aid of the USPTO. A trademark is a device, name, symbol, or word used with goods to designate the source of the goods and to distinguish them from the goods of others. A ser - vicemark identifies and distinguishes the source of a service rather than goods. Trademark registrations can be filed by paper or online. A registered trademark requires regular maintenance. Six years after the registration date, a declaration of use or excusable non-use must be filed with applica - ble fees, with evidence showing that use. If this dec - laration is not filed, the registration is cancelled. The Madrid Protocol is a filing treaty that provides trademark protection in multiple countries by filing a single application. It is the right of each country whether or not trademark protection is granted. If granted, the trademark is protected in that country. The Hague Agreement is an international registration system which offers the possibility of obtaining pro - tection for up to 100 industrial designs in designated member countries and intergovernmental organiza - tions (referred to as “contracting parties”) by filing a single international application in a single language either directly with the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) or indirectly through the office of applicant’s contract - ing party. Applicants can file international design applications through the USPTO as an office of indirect filing. Industrial design patents have a 15-year term from the date of issuance.
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