Bahamas (BS)
Jan 18, 2013 (Newsletter Issue 1/13)New Legislation DraftedThe Government of The Bahamas announced on 8 January 2013 that it intends to modernize the country’s intellectual property system and has drafted new legislation. The Bills can be viewed on the Government website www.bahamas.gov.bs under the heading of Bills, Laws & Acts and includes:
- Copyright Bill
- Patent Bill
- Trade Marks Bill
- Geographical Indications Bill
- False Trade Descriptions Bill
- Protection of New Plant Varieties Bill
- Integrated Circuits Bill
The intention is to make The Bahamas compliant with its intellectual property rights obligations under the WTO and EPA. The Ministry of Financial Services and the Attorney General’s Office have recently started discussing the implications of the draft legislation through public forums and are requesting comments from professional associations and legal practitioners.
Source: Mosko & Associates, Bahamas Legal basis is the Trade Marks Act, 1906 (CH.322) (as amended up to Act No. 5 of 1987).
The Bahamas is not a member of the Madrid Agreement or Protocol.
Trademark protection is obtained by registration.
The Bahamas has its own national classification for goods – services are not currently recognised.
Registrable as a trademark are all distinctive and graphically representable signs, three-dimensional forms and any combination of the mentioned signs.
The following trademark types are registrable: trade marks, collective marks and certification marks.
The application is filed at the Industrial Property Office
Multiple-class applications are not possible. A separate application has to be filed for each class.
Foreign applicants need a local agent.
Foreign applicants do not need a domestic registration.
The application process includes an examination of distinctiveness and a search for prior trademarks.
Signs not deemed distinctive in the examination can be registered if distinctiveness has been acquired by use.
Trademark applications accepted by the Registrar are published once in the official gazette prior to registration.
The approximate time frame for completing the registration process of a trademark in The Bahamas is four (4) years.
National:
The opposition period is thirty (30) days from publication date of the application.
Protection begins with the date of application. A trademark registration is valid for 14 years from date of application. The registration is renewable for periods of fourteen (14) years.
At a date not less than one month and not more than two months before the expiration of the last registration of a mark, if no fee upon the Form No. 13 has been received, the Registrar shall send to the registered proprietor at his registered address a notice in the Form No. 14.
At a time not less than fourteen days and not more than twenty-eight days before the expiration of the last registration of a mark, the Registrar shall, if no renewal fee has been received, send a notice to the registered proprietor at his registered address in the Form No. 15.
If at the date of the expiration of the last registration of a mark the renewal fee has not been paid, the Registrar shall advertise the fact forthwith in the Gazette and if within one month of such advertisement the renewal fee upon Form No. 16, together with an additional fee upon Form No. 17 is received, he may renew the registration without removing the mark from the register.
Where after one month from such advertisement such fees have not been paid, the Registrar may remove the mark from the register as of the date of the expiration of the last registration, but may upon payment of the renewal fee upon Form No. 16, together with the additional fee upon Form No. 18, restore the mark to the register if satisfied that it is just so to do, and upon such conditions as he may think fit to impose.
Further practical details are available in our publication on this topic
hereIf the trademark has not been used within five (5) years from the date of the cancellation proceedings, it may be subject to cancellation.
Further practical details are available in our publication on this topic
hereThe official application fee is USD 50.00 for one class and USD 50.00 for each additional class.
The registration fee is USD 80.00 per class. There is no publication fee.
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