Patent registration in Bolivia. Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in western-central South America. Modern Bolivia is a charter member of the UN, IMF, NAM, OAS, ACTO, Bank of the South, ALBA, and USAN. Bolivia has slashed poverty rates and has the fastest growing economy in South America (in terms of GDP). It is a developing country, with a high ranking in the Human Development Index. Its main economic activities include agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, and manufacturing goods such as textiles, clothing, refined metals, and refined petroleum. Bolivia is very rich in minerals, including tin, silver, lithium, and copper. Accordingly, many businesses want to enter this market and one of the most important preparations a business needs to take before expanding to this country is to learn the procedure of patent registration in Bolivia.
Patent in Bolivia
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of years in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention.
A patent in Bolivia is granted to the new invention and new creation that is beneficial to the society of Bolivia.
Process patents and product patents are the two types of patents that can be protected in Bolivia.
The types of patent applications that can be filed are Non-Convention Application, Convention Application, and Divisional Application.
Necessary documents for patent registration in Bolivia
The necessary documents for patent registration in Bolivia include:
- The request to grant a patent (patent application);
- Detailed information on the applicant(s) including the applicant’s and inventor’s names, addresses, citizenships, etc.;
- A description of the invention (even if it complies with formal requirements only).
- A filing number and date of a priority application or a PCT application;
- A signed and stamped power of attorney by the applicant(s);
- A copy of the amendments (if any);
- Priority documents (if any).
- Other required documents.
The procedure of patent registration in Bolivia
To obtain a patent in Bolivia, the applicant needs to file their patent application to the Bolivia IP Office.
In Bolivia, patent registrations are reviewed regarding formality, rather than the content of the application.
If there are no errors in formality, the patent application will be published publicly in the Official Gazette.
The application will then enter an opposition period that lasts 2 months. If there are no oppositions during this period, the patent will be granted for a period of 20 years and Industrial Designs for 10 years.
The validity period starts from the filing date of the patent application in Bolivia.
There’s no use requirement for a patent to be valid in this country.
After the patent has been granted to the applicant (post-granted stage), if other parties want to oppose the patent, they will need to file a patent nullity.
Notes when filing for patent registration in Bolivia
If the applicant wants to enjoy priority in Bolivia, based on Decision 486 of the Bolivian Government, the applicant needs to file the priority claim within 12 months of the date of the claim.
The submission of the priority documents is 16 months from the foreign presentation and must be certified by the Patent Office of the country of origin.
If all things go smoothly, the patent registration time in Bolivia takes between 24 to 36 months.
After the grant of the patent, the patentee needs to pay the annuities annually to maintain the validity of the patent.
Subsequent annuity payments must be made each year, on the anniversary date of the application.
In Bolivia, two or more annuities can be paid in advance. All annuity payments have a grace period of 6 months before and 6 months after the deadline to submit the fees.
Regarding IP treaties in this country, Bolivia is a contracting party of the Cartagena Agreement, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and the Paris Convention on the Protection of Industry Property. In addition, Bolivia also ratified the Patent Cooperation Treaty in 2003.
You can find a list of Bolivia IP firms here.