Patent registration in Panama. Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a transcontinental country in Central America and South America. Revenue from canal tolls continues to represent a significant portion of Panama’s GDP, although commerce, banking, and tourism are major and growing sectors. It is regarded as having a high-income economy. 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 Panama.
Patent in Panama
According to Panama law, a patent in Panama is a grant of a property right given by the Government to an inventor. With a patent, the inventor, or the patentee will have the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, selling the invention in a country, or importing the invention into a country, along with other rights to protect their best interests.
To be patentable in Panama, an invention must satisfy the new, nonobvious, inventive, and industrially applicable requirements.
In addition, an invention that is patentable can also be an improvement on existing items or methods.
On the other hand, the unpatentable subjects in Panama are:
- Discoveries, laws of nature, and mathematical methods;
- Aesthetic designs;
- Systems, rules, and methods for the performance of mental labor, games or management, computer programs;
- Presentation of data and abstract ideas.
Necessary documents for patent registration in Panama
The necessary documents for patent registration in Panama 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 for patent registration in Panama
To obtain a patent in Panama, the applicant needs to file their patent application to the IP Office of Panama.
Within the period of 14 months from the filing date of the patent application in Panama, the applicant needs to file a request to prepare a report on the state of the art of the invention to the Patent Office.
According to the stipulated law, the publication of the state of the art of report must be made within 18 months from the filing date.
The said report will also be made available in the Industrial Property Official Bulletin.
After the publication, all third parties who feel like their rights are violated may file an observation against the registration of the innovation.
The observations are considered official and will be sent to the applicant. The latter will then have 2 months to submit a reply to the observation.
After all the procedures have been taken, the patent will be granted to the applicant and will have a 20 years validity period.
To maintain this validity, annuities must be paid. However, the patentee is not required to pay it yearly. Rather, they can pay each 5 years.
The first payment must be paid at the moment of filing the application, and the following payments each quinquennial counted as of the date of filing of the application.
The payment can be done at any moment before the expiration of the respective quinquennial.
If the patentee misses the deadline, there is a grace period of 6 months in which the patentee can make the payment along with a fine.
You can see a list of Panama IP firms here.