The Government of Jamaica has recently deposited its instrument of accession to the Patent Cooperation Treaty making it the 154th member of the PCT Union. This was preceded by a dramatic change to the Jamaican legal landscape in the field of Patents with the repeal of 163 year-old legislation and the introduction of the freshly minted Patents and Designs Act, 2020. Though the date for entry into operation of the Act was delayed, we expect that the operative date for the Act will be 11 February, 2022.
With this in mind, foreign innovators and patent holders will be able, from February 11th, to use the PCT system to register patents in Jamaica. Whilst the Jamaica Intellectual Property Office finalises the applicable procedures for entering the national phase, once the Act is operative, clients will be able to protect novel inventions and importantly, claim priority under the Paris Convention. Similar to other jurisdictions, annuities will be payable and the term for patents will be 20 years from the date of the application.
The IPO will be holding a consultative session next week after which we will be in a position to confirm the specific procedure, required documentation and relevant fees to enter the national phase. In the interim, we invite you to read our overview of the Patents and Designs Act, 2020 by clicking HERE and welcome any queries you may have.
Our team looks forward to working with you. Please contact:
Anne-Marie White-Feanny afeanny@lival.co
Mikhail Jackson mjackson@lival.co
Yannic Fletcher yfletcher@lival.co