Haiti: IPO Director Ends Grace Periods With No Written
As a first-time member of Latin America and Caribbean subcommittee of INTA’s Bulletin Committee from 2022to 2023, 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):
In a communication dated April 19, 2022, Haiti’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MCI) increased its official fees for trademark matters by approximately 25 percent effective from May 2, 2022— providing users with only two weeks’ notice. This increase came hard on the heels of another increase at the Haitian National Press (HPN), which increased its official fees for publication of trademarks a mere month prior, but more marginally, by approximately 10 percent.
In Haiti, trademark applicants must first pay examination fees at the MCI, then pay publication fees at the HPN to see their marks published in the Official Gazette. Local intellectual property service providers are therefore tasked with aggregating official fees from different governmental institutions, which tend to make decisions on short notice and without coordination between themselves. As a result, trademark applicants can be caught off guard by multiple increases in official fees within short periods of time, as was the case in March and April of this year.
Until there is trademark reform, for example, giving MCI’s Legal Service division control over publication of trademarks, applicants will have to go through a winding road of local institutions to obtain trademark rights.
Link to article (must be INTA member to access):
