PATENTS

Dominican Republic Patent Law 
The registration of patents, utility models and Designs in the Dominican Republic is governed by Law 20-00 on Industrial Property in force from May 8, 2000, modified by the Law 424-06 of November 20, 2006 and its Decree 599-01 of the Application Regulations of the Law 20-00.
* The institution responsible for ensuring the intellectual property of a patent, utility model and design in the Dominican Republic is the National Intellectual Property Office (ONAPI).
Dominican Republic is member of the following IP agreements and conventions
-Paris Convention
-Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)
-WIPO Convention
-Berne Convention
-Hague Agreement
-Madrid Protocol
-Trademark Law Treaty (TLT)    
-Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances 
-Singapore Treaty
-Marrakesh VIP Treaty
-Budapest Treaty
-Lisbon Agreement
- UPOV convention               
Documents required
- Power of Attorney (POA) duly notarized and legalized by Apostille or Consulate. 
- Assignment legalized will be required if applicant is not the inventor.
Dominican Republic Patent registration Procedure
Filing
The patent application in Dominican Republic is filed at the National Intellectual Property Office (ONAPI).
Formal Examination
The Patent Office (ONAPI) will review the application within 60 days from filing date. First will check if there are errors of form  and will check formalities requirements. If there is some need to be fixed, the applicant have 60 days to response.
Publication
The patent need to be published within 18 months after filing date. Early publication is available under applicant request.
* The patent application will be published for a period of 60 days.  
Observations may be submitted within 60 days from the date of publication. The presentation of observations will not suspend the processing of the application.
The applicant have 60 days to response official actions observations from receipt date.
* Observations and their comments will be taken into account in the examination of the merits of the application.
Substantive Examination
The applicant need to pay the prescribed fee and request the substative examination within 12 months after publication date. If that period expires without having paid the examination fee, the application will be automatically abandoned and will be filed automatically. 
ONAPI will examined the Novelty, Inventive level and unity and industrial applicability.
If ONAPI issue the examination report with objections, the applicant will have 3 months to response.
Grant
If the Patent office of Dominican Republic consider the examination report is favorable, they it will issued the grant resolution.
Post Grant Publication
The applicant can request the publication of the patent granted upon payment of the prescribed fee.
Timeframe
The approximate timeframe from filing to registration for the granting of a Invention patent must be made within a maximum period of 5 years counting from the filing date or 3 years counting from the application date of the substantive examination, whichever is greater. 
Duration
The protection period obtained is 20 years, counted from the date of submission of the application.
Annuities
Annual fees must be paid to keep in force a Patent register or a Pending patent application pending. Payments will be made before the beginning of the corresponding annual Maintenance Period (anniversary). The first annual fee will be paid before the beginning of the third year from the date of the patent application. 
* A grace period of 6 months will be granted for the payment of an annual fee, by paying the established surcharge. During the grace period, the Patent or the patent application, as the case may be,
maintains its full validity.
* Failure to pay any of the annual fees in the grace period automatically results in the expiration of the Patent or the patent application, as the case may be.
* Applications filed in the national phase in the framework of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), must make the payment of the expired maintenance fees, before the first anniversary of the date of entry into the national phase of the request. The six (6) month grace period established by the National Law will be applied for the payment of the maintenance fees in force.
PCT
The deadline to enter into national phase PCT in Dominican Republic in chapter I and II is 30 months.
Priority
Priority of a international patent application can be claimed in Dominican Republic within the 12 months of the filing date of the foreign application. A certified copy of the priority application need to be filed within 3 months after filing of the local application. 
Subject matters excluded from patent protection of invention in Dominican Republic
a) Discoveries that consist of making known something that already exists in nature, scientific theories and mathematical methods;
b) Exclusively aesthetic creations;
c) The plans, principles or economic or business methods, and those related to activities purely mental or industrial or a matter of play;
d) Information presentations;
e) Computer programs;
f) Therapeutic or surgical methods for human or animal treatment, as well as diagnostic methods;
g) All kinds of living matter and pre-existing substances in nature;
h) The juxtaposition of known inventions or mixtures of known products, their variation in shape, dimensions or materials, except for their combination or fusion, so that they cannot function separately or that the qualities or their characteristic functions are modified to obtain a result industrial not obvious to a technician in the field;
i) Products or procedures already patented due to the fact that a different use is attributed to that included in the original patent.
2) The following inventions will not be patentable, nor will they be published:
a) Those whose exploitation would be contrary to public order or morality;
b) Those that are obviously contrary to the health or life of people or animals,
or may cause serious damage to the environment;
c) Plants and animals, except microorganisms, and procedures essentially biological for the production of plants or animals, other than non-biological or microbiological procedures. Plant varieties will be regulated by virtue of a special law, in accordance with the provisions of Article 27.3, letter b), of TRIPS.

TRADEMARKS

Dominican Republic Trademark Law
The registration of trademarks in the Dominican Republic is governed by Law 20-00 on Industrial Property in force from May 8, 2000, modified by the Law 424-06 of November 20, 2006 and its Decree 599-01 of the Application Regulations of the Law 20-00.
* The institution responsible for ensuring the intellectual property of a trademark, trade name, etc in the Dominican Republic is the National Intellectual Property Office (ONAPI).
Dominican Republic is member of the following IP agreements and conventions
| Paris Convention | Madrid Protocol | Trademark Law Treaty (TLT) | 
| WIPO Convention | Hague Agreement | Berne Convention | 
| Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances | Singapore Treaty | 
| Marrakesh VIP Treaty | Budapest Treaty | Lisbon Agreement | 
| UPOV convention | Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) |               
Classification
Nice classification, 11th edition. Multiple-class applications are possible. 
Trade mark applications in Dominican Republic can cover:
*  trade marks, service marks, collective marks, certification marks, trade names and titles of establishment.
Document required
Power of Attorney (POA) simply signed.  
Dominican Republic Trademark Registration Procedure
Filing
The trademark application in Dominican Republic is filed at the National Intellectual Property Office (ONAPI).
Formal Examination
The Dominican authority, National Office of Industrial Property (ONAPI) reviews the application. First will check if there are errors of form  and will check formalities requirements.
Substantive Examination
Then the examiner will analyze if the application violates the prohibitions for trademark registration: (a) inadmissibility of registration by the sign [absolute grounds], and (b) inadmissibility of registration by third party rights [relative grounds]. 
Official Action
In the event that ONAPI finds a violation, the applicant will be notified and will be granted a period of sixty (60) days to “withdraw, modify or limit” the request or to respond to ONAPI objections. If the applicant or his representative does not respond within the established time or if his answer does not resolve the objection, the application will be denied. A notification of approval or denied is issued 15 days after response by part of the applicant is received.
Extension of time
Extension of time for filing the response to official action  in a later date is possible in Dominican Republic under motived request and paid of the prescribed fee. ONAPI according its regulations grant can three or two extension of times per expedient. 
*Formal official action extension: The first extension for 60 days and the second one for 30 days. 
*Substantive official action extension: The first extension for 90 days, second one for 60 days and the third one for 30 days. 
Publication
If the trademark application in Dominican Republic have been duly approved and accepted, the ONAPI give the applicant 30 days to pay the publication fee.  After payment the trademark application will be published for forty-five (45) days period in a national wide newspaper (El Nacional) and in the Official Bulletin. 
National Opposition
Law 20-00 gives third parties a period of forty-five (45) days from publication date to file oppositions against the application for registration. Once this period has expired, ONAPI will decide on the oppositions presented (if applicable). Opposition period cannot be extended.
Grant
If not opposition is filed in Dominican Republic Office (ONAPI), certificate will be issued by granting the trademark registration.
Timeframe
The approximate time frame for completing the registration process of a trademark in Dominican Republic is from 3 to 6 months.
Duration
A trademark registration is valid for 10 years from date of application. The registration is renewable for periods of 10 years.
All registered trademarks are to be renewed within 6 months before the expiry date and also can be renewed within the grace period of 6 months after expiration date. Which case the established surcharge must be paid, in addition to the corresponding renewal fee. During the grace period the trademark registration remains in full force.
Priority
Priority of a internatioanl trademark application can be claimed in Dominican Republic within the 6 months of the filing date of the foreign application. A certified copy of the priority application need to be filed within 3 months after filing of the local application. 
Use 
A trade mark not used in Dominican Republic after 3 years from registration date may be subject to cancellation.
Provisions regarding the use of the trademark
1) They are considered as justified reasons for the lack of use of a trademark those that are based on facts or circumstances beyond the control of the owner of the trademark and that he has not been able to avoid or remedy. Insufficient financial or technical resources to carrying out a productive or commercial activity and insufficient demand for the product or service that the trademark distinguishes are not considered justified reasons.
2) In assessing the circumstances of the lack of use of the mark, the acts already carried out by the owner with a view to its effective use will be taken into account, provided that they denote a serious intention to put the mark into use and such use is imminent.
3) When the lack of use of a trademark only affects one or some of the products or services for which the trademark was registered, the cancellation of the registration will be resolved in a reduction or limitation of the list of the products or services included in the registration of the trademark, eliminating those products or services for which the trademark has not been used.
Proof of use of the trademark in Dominican Republic
1) The burden of proof of the use of the trademark corresponds to the owner of the mark.
2) The use of the trademark will be accredited by means of any evidence admitted by law, such as tangible evidence. 
3) Any proof of use of a trademark presented for the purposes of this law will have the value of an affidavit, the owner of the trademark being responsible for its veracity.