Patent registration in Costa Rica. Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. The country has consistently performed favorably in the Human Development Index (HDI), placing 62nd in the world as of 2020, and fifth in Latin America. It also performs well in comparisons of the state of democracy, press freedom, and subjective happiness. It has the 7th freest press according to the Press Freedom Index, it is the 37th most democratic country according to the Freedom in the World index and it is the 12th happiest country in the World Happiness Report. 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 Costa Rica.
Patent in Costa Rica
As Costa Rica follows the first-in-time, first-in-right basis, the applicant who wants to extend their business to this country should make all necessary procedures to ensure that their invention is registered and there will be no room for infringement by third parties.
Since the U.S. government generally cannot enforce rights for private individuals in Costa Rica, it is the responsibility of the rights holders to register, protect, and enforce their rights in this country.
Necessary documents for patent registration in Costa Rica
The necessary documents for patent registration in Costa Rica 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;
- 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.
Novelty grace period
To register a patent in Costa Rica, absolute novelty is a key factor.
An invention is deemed to be novel as long as the subject matter does not exist in the prior art.
Prior art will not include any disclosures made, directly or indirectly, by the inventor or by the inventor’s successors up to one year prior to the filing date (or priority date) or disclosures that are the result of an illegal act against the inventor that is not of the inventor’s permission or free will.
Validity and maintenance notes
Normally, the entire process of patent registration in Costa Rica will take about 4 to 5 years.
After this process, the applicant will receive the patent certificate.
A patent in Costa Rica will have a protection period of 20 years for invention and 10 years for utility models and industrial designs.
To maintain the validity protection of a patent, the patentee needs to pay the maintenance fee after the granting of the patent.
It should be noted that annuities do not need to be paid during prosecution for applications filed before April 24, 2014.
For applications filed on or after April 24, 2014, annuities during prosecution are payable retroactively upon grant of the application.
When the Patent Office of Costa Rica issued the grant notice, the applicant has a 2-month deadline to make the payment.
The annuities need to be paid yearly. However, the patentee may pay 2 or more annuities in advance.
Please find the list of IP Firm in Costa Rica here.