Jamaica's New Intellectual Property Makeover

• Law Firm: Foga Daley
• Subject Matter: Intellectual Property, Patent, Trademark
• Author: Ms Dianne Daley McClure
• Published date: 13 March 2023

Intellectual Property (IP) practitioners in Jamaica have arguably witnessed more significant changes in the IP legal landscape in the last two years, than they have two decades prior.

2020 heralded a new law on patents and designs, with the Patents and Designs Act being the first law to be enacted in Jamaica that year. It was not until two years later, on February 11, 2022, that the Patents and Designs Act came into effect making monumental changes to the laws.

In the area of trademarks, significant amendments came into effect on June 30, 2021, through the Trade Marks (Amendment) Act which has imposed new conditions of protection and made way for Jamaica's implementation of the Madrid Protocol for the International Registration of Marks (the Protocol).

Here's a rundown of the major changes in patents, designs and trademark protection, respectively.

PATENT UPDATES

The New Law

The Patents and Designs Act No. 1 of 2020 came into effect on February 11, 2022 (the new law) completely overhauling the systems that prevailed under the Patent Act of 1857 and the Designs Act of 1937 (the old laws) and repealing those laws in its wake. Jamaica also acceded to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) on November 10, 2021, which came into effect February 10, 2022.

The new law has modernized the patent system by raising the criteria of protection to international standards and implementing the WTO TRIPS Agreement's provisions on patents and designs as well as the PCT. Here are a few noteworthy changes.

Criteria for Protection

Under the new law, patents are available for inventions in all fields of technology provided they are new, involve an inventive step and are capable of industrial application and do not fall within the excluded subject matter.

Novelty

Under the new law, absolute novelty is required, not local novelty as obtained under the old law. The invention must not have been made available to the public anywhere in the world, whether by means of written or oral description use or any other means, prior to the filing/priority date. There is a grace period of 12 months within which certain disclosures will not erode the novelty of the invention.

Excluded Subject-Matter

The new law expressly excludes computer programs and business methods from patentability although it might still be possible to protect inventions with these components if they comprise a technical solution to a technical problem. Other subject-matter on the exclusions list include:

• Plants and animals...