Patent registration in the Solomon Islands. The Solomon Islands is a sovereign country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and northwest of Vanuatu. Although the Solomon Islands is one of the lesser developed nations, it has many great prospects for tourism and renewable energy development. A team of renewable energy developers working for the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) and funded by the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) has developed a scheme that allows local communities to access renewable energy, such as solar, water, and wind power, without the need to raise substantial sums of cash. 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 the Solomon Islands.
Patent in the Solomon Islands
According to the Solomon Islands law, a patent in this country 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 Solomon Islands, an invention must satisfy the requirement of new, inventive, and industrially applicability.
In addition, an invention that is patentable can also be an improvement on existing items or methods.
On the other hand, the subjects that are patentable in Solomon Islands 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 Solomon Islands
The necessary documents for patent registration in the Solomon Islands include:
- The request to grant a patent (patent application);
- Detailed information on the applicant(s) including the applicant’s names, addresses, 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 Solomon Islands
To obtain a patent in the Solomon Islands, the applicant needs to file their patent application to the IP Office of Solomon Islands.
The patent application will be examined by the examiner at the IP Office. This is a formal examination. The purpose of this examination is to check if the application complies with the requirement of the law on formality.
If there are any errors, the Office will inform the applicant and/or their representative to supplement or correct the mistakes.
At the moment, there are no provisions for publication or opposition procedure.
If all errors have been resolved, the Patent Certificate of Solomon Islands will be granted to the applicant.
The patent in the Solomon Islands will have the same validity as the corresponding UK patent.
The approximate time to register a patent on the Island is 2-3 years. However, this time may be prolonged or shortened due to actual circumstances.
You can see a list of Solomon Islands IP firms here.