Patent registration in Cuba. Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is a country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is a founding member of the United Nations, the G77, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Organisation of African, Caribbean and the Pacific States, ALBA and the Organization of American States. It has currently one of the world’s only planned economies, and its economy is dominated by the tourism industry and the exports of skilled labor, sugar, tobacco, and coffee. Cuba has historically – both before and during Communist rule – performed better than other countries in the region on several socioeconomic indicators, such as literacy, infant mortality, and life expectancy. 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 Cuba.
Patent in Cuba
A patent in Cuba is a grant of a property right given by the Government to an inventor to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling the invention in a country, or importing the invention into a country for a limited period.
In Cuba, there are 3 main types of patent: processes, products, and devices. To register for a patent, the applicant must be a legal resident of Cuba or be represented by an agent in Cuba.
To be patentable, the invention must be new, nonobvious, inventive, and industrially applicable.
An invention can also be an improvement on existing items or methods.
Accordingly, the subjects that are not patentable in Cuba are:
- Discoveries as well as laws of nature and mathematical methods;
- Aesthetic designs;
- Systems, rules, and methods for the performance of mental labor, games, or management as well as computer programs and
- Presentation of data and abstract ideas.
Necessary documents for patent registration in Cuba
The necessary documents for patent registration in Cuba 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.
The procedure of patent registration in Cuba
To obtain a patent in Cuba, the applicant needs to file their patent application to the Cuban Office of Industrial Property (OCPI).
When the payment of fees has been paid in full, the application will then proceed to the examination phase within 3 months from the application date.
If there are errors in the patent application in Cuba, an official request will be sent to the applicant. They then have to respond with a reply within 60 days of the notification, extendable for one more month.
If the applicant does not present the correction within the planned term, the application will be declared abandoned.
If the application passed the examination phase, it will be published publicly in the Official Bulletin of Industrial Property in a period not less than 18 months from the request.
The opposing parties will have 2 months from the publication date to present their oppositions to the registration of the patent.
If there are no oppositions or the opposition is concluded with the winning party being the applicant, the application will undergo a substantive examination to check if the invention passed the patentability requirements.
Upon completion of the substantive examination, the Head of the Department of Inventions will give a decision on the granting of the patent to the applicant within 30 days.
Once a patent is obtained, an invention can not be used, manufactured, duplicated, or sold without the inventor’s authorization. Patent rights can be enforced in court against third-party infringers who practice the invention without permission of the inventor or title bearer.
You can see a list of Cuba IP firms here.