Haiti: IP Office Reopens After Three Month Closure

As co-chair of the Latin America and Caribbean subcommittee of INTA’s Bulletin Committee from 2024 to 2025, our partner authored articles to keep the global IP community updated with what was happening in Haiti. This article first appeared in the INTA Bulletin and was reprinted below with permission from the International Trademark Association (INTA):

Haiti’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MCI) resumed all intellectual property (IP)-related services from June 4, 2024, having been closed since February 29, 2024, due to ongoing civil unrest in the country.

MCI is responsible for the management of all rights of Haitian industrial property (a designation that includes trademarks, designs, and patents), including trademarks, patents, and commercial names. After announcing on June 3, 2024, that its Office would resume services related to all IP rights on June 4, MCI extended all IP rights–related deadlines falling during the closure period of February 29–June 3 until July 4, 2024.

After this welcome announcement, James Monazard became the country’s new Minister of Commerce and Industry on June 13. Monazard has a legal background and spent close to five years as head of industrial property within MCI’s Legal Affairs Directorate. In 2021, he was appointed the Director General of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and with this recent development he takes the top position at MCI. His responsibilities include overseeing Haiti’s trade and industrial policies, which extend to covering industrial property rights.

Link to article (must be INTA member to access): 

https://www.inta.org/perspectives/law-practice/haiti-ip-office-reopens-after-three-month-closure/