New Trademark laws on the Horizon for Trinidad & Tobago
After considering the Trade Marks Bill, 2014 in April of this year, the Senate of Trinidad & Tobago assented to the Trade Marks Act, 2015 on June 12, 2015. The remaining step to bring the new Act into effect is a proclamation, which will likely happen after completion of companion regulations. This new act will replace the existing Trade Marks Act, Chap. 82:81.
Perhaps most notably, the act allows the Minister in charge of intellectual property to make regulations giving effect to the provisions of the Madrid Protocol. This positions Trinidad to become one of the few Commonwealth Caribbean countries to implement Madrid – the only other country having done so thus far being Antigua & Barbuda. Implementation of Madrid may be an exciting prospect to many trademark applicants, as it allows for simplified filing across multiple jurisdictions simultaneously. However, some countries have taken to issuing regular provisional refusals, and it is possible that the Intellectual Property Office in Trinidad will follow suit. The Registry in Antigua & Barbuda regularly issues provisional refusals to international applications which must be dealt with individually and on a local basis. Caribbean IP has experience dealing with such refusals in Antigua, and should Trinidad implement Madrid, we are prepared to help applicants with any issues they may face in that country as well.
Another important change for mark owners is that the new act will implement the most recent version of the Nice Classification system. At present, Trinidad still follows the Seventh Edition of the Nice Classification, which only protects goods and services up to Class 42. Bringing the most current version of Nice into effect will be an exciting change for trademark owners, as they will be able to better protect their goods and services of interest.
Please check out my article featured in the June 15, 2015 issue of the INTA Bulletin for more information or contact me directly at Katherine@Caribbean-IP.com. Caribbean IP continues to follow developments on the proposed laws.