On February 10, 2020, by guidelines of the President of the Republic of Nicaragua, two initiatives of law were presented to the Secretariat of the National Assembly which intend to reform Law No. 380, Law on Trademarks and Other Distinctive Signs, and Law No. 354, Law on Invention Patents, Utility Models and Industrial Designs.

The main aspects that have been subject to discussion and that are incorporated in this reform, deal with the regulation of Trademarks. These initiatives increase the fees for charging intellectual property registration services by up to 50%, positioning Nicaragua as the country with the highest official rates on trademark issues of Central America. It creates “tariffs” that were not previously contemplated by our law, such as the fee for the presentation of oppositions or the registration of Special Powers, adding that for the advertising signs a fee will be added for each referenced brand, as well as for the replacement of publication notices, among others.

In said reform, the validity of trade names is limited and homologated with that of trademarks with a period of duration of 10 years, which is not related to the use in trade of itself, even despite the recognized declarative character that has its registration. However, it grants only the term of 3 months to all the holders of registered commercial names for more than 10 years to carry out the procedures for requesting their renewal.

In procedural matters, alarming provisions are incorporated concerning the reduction of terms up to 75%. Before this reform, the Law granted a period of 2 months to correct errors in the applications within the stage of the examination of form; now, if the reform is approved, this will be reduced to 15 days, all under a justification of “procedural expediting”. Moreover, for the processing of submission of oppositions, ratify informal management, publications, among others, the reduction of the time is up to 50%.

A positive aspect of the initiative is the notification via email, which aims to avoid further delays thanks to the transition from a traditional system to a modernized one. On that line, the renewal of all commercial names that have been registered for more than 10 years is incorporated in an innovative way, which could represent an opportunity to update the database and release all those that are not in use.

On the other hand, the reforms to the Law on Patents for Inventions, Models and Utility and Industrial Designs Law, refer mainly to application fees, increasing them by 20%, together with the incorporation of new concepts such as restoration of the right of priority and restoration of applications via PCT.

Undoubtedly, these initiatives of Law alter the landscape of tariffs and traditional processes regarding Intellectual Property accustomed to Nicaragua, where applicants and professionals in Intellectual Property will be the most affected.

Currently, the initiatives are under study and consultation by the National Assembly, and that has caused professionals to discuss it, wanting their contributions to be taken into account.
We will keep you informed of any eventuality in this subject.