An invention is novel when it has not previously existed in the prior art.

The prior art includes anything disclosed or made available to the public anywhere in the world, by means of a tangible publication, oral disclosure, merchantability, use or any other means, before patent application filing date in Dominican Republic or, if applicable, before foreign application filing date, which is claimed according to Article 135. Also included within the prior art is the content of any application pending before the National Agency of Industrial Property which filing date or, if applicable, priority date is prior to that of the application being examined, but only to the extent such content is included in the application of prior date at the time of publication.

For prior art determination, nothing disclosed during the year prior to application filing date in Dominican Republic shall be taken into account, provided that such disclosure directly or indirectly resulted from actions by inventor or its assignee, or breach of trust, breach of contract or any illegal act against any of them.

Any disclosure as a result of a publication by any industrial property agency within the patent granting process is not included in the preceding paragraph’s exclusion, except for an application filed by someone who did not have any right to the patent, or a wrongfully made publication.

Patent rights belongs to the inventor, without prejudice to the provisions in Articles 8 and 9. The rights to any invention attributable to more than one person (co-inventors) are jointly held.

Patent rights may be assigned by a legal document or by succession.

In the event several individuals made the same invention independently of one another, patent shall be granted to the first filing patent application or claiming priority, whichever occurs first, pursuant to Article 135.

In the event an invention is made during job or service or labor agreement execution, the right to the patent for that invention belongs to the person who engaged labor or service, or to the employer, whichever the case, unless contractual provision establishes otherwise.

In the event invention’s worth is much greater than that which parties may have reasonably anticipated at the time of contract completion, inventor shall have the right to a special compensation to be set by competent court, in the absence of agreement by the parties.

Any contractual provision less favorable to inventor than the provisions contained under this article shall be of no legal effect.

In the event any employee not bound by contract to perform any inventive activities, develops an invention with the use of data or means to which he or she has access by reason of his or her employment, such employee shall immediately convey in writing such occurrence to his or her employer. If within two months from date of notice receipt by the employer or employer’s awareness of such invention by some other means, whichever occurs first, employer shall give written notice to employee of employer’s interest in the invention. Employer shall own such interest and the right to patent shall be deemed to have belonged to the employer from the beginning. Should employer not give the notice within the established time limit, the right to the patent shall be retained by the employee.

In the event employer notifies of its interest in the invention, the employee shall have the right to an equitable compensation, based on salary and the invention’s estimated worth. If parties fail to reach an agreement as to compensation, the appropriate court shall determine such compensation.

Any contractual provision less favorable to inventor than the provisions contained under this article shall have no legal effect.

If the applicant for a patent is the inventor himself, and for financial reasons, applicant is unable to bear the cost of application’s filing, processing or renewal, applicant shall state such circumstance in the patent application and at the time of paying the appropriate annual fees. In such a case, the National Agency of Industrial Property, after verification of applicant’s economic status, may decide that inventor shall pay only a share of appropriate fees, which under no circumstance shall be less than 10% of the regular amount, so long as inventor-applicant’s financial conditions persist.

Should a pending application for a patent or granted patent be assigned to an individual who is not in such financial condition, such an assignment shall not be registered until payment of appropriate fees is made, had the statement indicated in Paragraph 1 hereinabove not been made.

Any individual or corporation shall be entitled to apply for a patent. If applicant is other than inventor, application shall include documents backing his or her right to obtain such patent.

Invention patent application shall be filed with the National Agency of Industrial Property and shall include a statement containing data relating to the applicant, the inventor and the agent, if any, as well as the name of the invention and any other data required under this law and any regulation thereof.

Application shall include a description, one or more claims, appropriate drawings, a summary, and proof of filing fee payment.

The application shall include date, number and filing office of any patent application or other protective title filed or title obtained in another office of industrial property, and which refers in whole or in part to the same invention claimed in the application filed in the Dominican Republic.

In like manner, application shall include a certified copy of any patent application or any other protective title filed, or foreign title or certificate obtained, which makes reference in whole or in part to the same invention claimed in the application filed in the Dominican Republic.

Description shall clearly and accurately disclose the invention for assessment and for reduction to practice by any individual with ordinary skills in the art.

Invention description shall indicate invention’s name and include the following information:

Any invention-related or applicable technological, agricultural, scientific sector, or other.

Previous technology known to the applicant, which may be useful for the comprehension and examination of the invention, and references to earlier documents and publications concerning such technology.

The description of the invention shall be in such terms as to enable the understanding of the technical trouble and the solution provided by the invention and indicate, as well, the advantages it may bring about over the previous technology.

A brief description of the drawings, if any.

The best way known to the applicant to execute or reduce to practice the invention, using examples of and references to the drawings.

The way in which invention is susceptible to industrial application, except for instances when such susceptibility is evidenced from invention’s description or nature.

In case of an invention relating to biological material which cannot be executed by a person with skill in the art as a result of its description drafting and unavailability of such material to the public, such description shall be supplemented with the delivery of such material to an institution which shall be priorly designated by the National Agency of Industrial Property.

Once the above-mentioned biological material has been made, such circumstance shall be indicated in the description together with the deposit institution’s name and address, deposit date and order number assigned by the institution to the deposit. The nature and characteristics of the material deposited shall also be described, when relevant to invention’s disclosure.

Summary shall include an abstract of the description disclosure, and a review of the claims and drawings, if any, and if applicable, the chemical formula or drawing which best characterizes the invention. Such a summary shall allow for the understanding of the essence of the technical trouble and the solution such an invention brings about, as well as the invention’s main use.

The summary shall serve for technical information and publication purposes, and shall not be used to determine or interpret the scope of protection conferred upon the invention by the patent.

Applicant may request, prior to publication as provided in Article 21, that his or her application be changed to a utility model patent application and that it be processed as such. A utility model patent applicant may request that his or her application be changed to an invention patent application. Any conversion petition shall be subject to payment of prescribed fee.

Any application conversion shall be valid provided invention’s nature qualifies for.

Upon expiration of the eighteen-month period as of patent application filing date or whenever it called for as of applicable priority date, the application shall be made available to the public for information purposes. Regulation-contained data and specifications shall be published in the National Agency of Industrial Property Official Gazette, at the expense of the interested party. The applicant may require that publication be made before expiration of indicated period.

Any interested person may present substantiated observations with respect to patentability of any invention in an application. Such remarks shall include detailed relevant factual and legal bases. The filing of observations shall not stop application’s processing. Any observation shall be filed within the following 60 days from publication date.

The National Agency of Industrial Property shall notify applicant of any such claims. Applicant shall provide any appropriate comments, arguments or documents within 60 days of receipt of observations notice. Applicant’s observations and comments shall be taken into account at the time of examination of the merits of the application.

A fee for examination of the merits of the patent application must be paid by applicant within a twelve-month term as of the date of application’s publication announcement. Failure to pay such fee within set time limit shall cause application to be legally treated as abandoned and officially filed away.

Patent application shall be examined to determine whether subject matter fits into invention categories established in Articles 1 and 2, paragraph 1), is patentable according to Article 2, Paragraph 2) and Articles 3, 4, 5 and 6, and meets the requirements provided in Articles 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 and, whenever applicable, Article 18, paragraph 1) and Article 135, and appropriate regulatory provisions.

Examination shall be directly carried out by the National Agency of Industrial Property or by called independent experts or public or private institutions, either local or foreign within the framework of international, regional or bilateral agreements. The cost of this examination shall be included in the fee indicated in paragraph 1.

Such examination may take into account documents relating to novelty or patentability examinations conducted by other industrial property offices or under the procedure established in the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), which make reference to the subject matter claimed in the application being examined. The National Agency of Industrial Property may admit such examination results as sufficient to certify that invention meets patentability specifications.

If application is found to be noncompliant with any of the requirements established for patent granting, the National Agency of Industrial Property shall send notice to the applicant in order to either furnish missing information, amend, modify or split the application, or make or submit any such comments or documents as applicant may deem appropriate within a three-month period.

If applicant fails to respond to notice within the established time limit, or in spite of applicant’s reply, the National Agency of Industrial Property determines that application does not meet the requirements for the granting of the patent, application shall be rejected by means of a resolution based on evidences.

For patentability examination purposes, applicant shall provide, at the request of the National Agency of Industrial Property, the appropriate translation, if applicable, of one or more of the following documents relating to one or various of the foreign applications referring to the same invention being examined:

Copy of the foreign application.

Copy of the results of the novelty or patentability examinations conducted with respect to the foreign application.

Copy of any patent or other protective title that may have been granted on the basis of the foreign application.

Whenever necessary to better resolve a patent application or the validity of a granted patent, the National Agency of Industrial Property may at any time request to applicant or holder of a patent the submission of the following documents relating to a foreign application or protective title referring to the same invention:

Copy of any resolution or decision whereby foreign application has been rejected or denied.

Copy of any resolution or decision whereby the patent or any other protective title granted on foreign application has been revoked, annulled, or invalidated

Patent shall also be rejected in the event applicant, though having the required information or document available, fails to submit it within the time period set forth in the notice. The minimum period shall be at least three months as of date of notice.

Upon applicant’s request, or at its own initiative, the National Agency of Industrial Property may stop patent application transmittal in the event there were any appropriate documents, in accordance with this article, pending submission before a foreign authority.

Applicant may present observations and comments on any information or document he or she provides in compliance with this article.

If the examination established in Article 22 is favorable, the patent shall be issued by the National Agency of Industrial Property. If partially unfavorable, only accepted claims shall be issued a patent. If completely unfavorable, patent shall be denied. The decisions of the National Agency of Industrial Property as to complete or partial denial shall be conveyed in writing to the applicant, explaining the reasons and legal bases for such decision.

Upon granting of the patent, the Industrial Property Registration Office shall:

Register the patent in the appropriate registry.

Deliver to the applicant a concession certificate and a copy of the patent document.

Issue a copy of the patent document to any party so requesting it, upon payment of the prescribed fee.

Annual fees must be paid in order to keep the validity of any patent or patent application process. The payments shall be made prior to the beginning of the appropriate yearly term. The initial annual fee shall be paid before the beginning of the third year, as of patent application date. Two or more annual fees may be paid in advance.

A grace period of six months shall be granted for the payment of an annual fee, including a surcharge established to that effect. During such grace period, patent or patent application, whichever the case, shall remain in full force.

Failure to pay any of the annual fees pursuant to provided in this article, shall automatically cause patent or patent application expiration or termination, whichever applicable.

The holder or applicant of a patent may grant to third parties one or more licenses for exploitation of the patented invention or patent application invention.

Any invention exploitation license agreement shall be evidenced in writing and registered with the National Agency of Industrial Property. License shall be valid to third parties only after registration and payment of registration fee.

If no provision to the contrary is established in the exploitation license agreement, the following standards shall be applicable:

During patent’s effectiveness, license coverage shall, nationwide and with respect to any other invention application, include all acts provided in Article 29, paragraph 1.

All Patents issued in violation of the provisions hereunder shall automatically be null and void. Any interested party may seek patent invalidation. Specifically, the National Agency of Industrial Property may at any time, at the request of any interested person or competent authority, declare that a patent is unenforceable in the event any of the following occurs:

Patent’s subject matter is not an invention according to Articles 1 and 2, paragraph 1).

Patent was issued for an invention that falls into Article 2, Paragraph 2) prohibition, or failed to meet patentability qualifications set forth in Articles 3, 4, 5 and 6.

Patent fails to disclose the invention pursuant to provided in Articles 13 and 14.

Patent-included claims do not meet Article 15 requirements.

The patent granted contains a broader disclosure than that contained in the original application.

The National Agency of Industrial Property shall annul any patent in the event such a patent had been granted to a person who does not have the right to obtain it according to Articles 7, 8 and 9. In this case invalidation may be sought solely by the person claiming to own the right to the patent, and such action shall lapse five years after the granting of the patent.

In the event reasons for invalidation affect solely one claim or a portion of a claim, only such claim or portion of a claim shall be invalidated. Whichever the case, the annulment may be stated in the form of a limitation of the appropriate claim.

A petition for invalidation or annulment may also be entered as a defense or counterclaim in any patent infringement action.

Patents shall automatically expire:

At termination of in-force period.

For failure to pay required maintenance fees. Patent owner shall have a grace period of one hundred eighty (180) days to pay the amount of fees owed. At the end of such time period, patent expiration shall become effective.

The National Agency of Industrial Property may declare that a patent is no longer in force, if any of the following occurs:

Two (2) years after the granting of the first compulsory license, the initial objectives for which patent was issued had not been attained.

It became necessary to protect public health, human, animal or vegetable life or avoid serious environmental hazards.

The appeal for reconsideration of any resolution rejecting or annulling a patent shall be admitted only if submitted in writing to the National Agency of Industrial Property within thirty (30) days from the date of appropriate resolution notice receipt. The appeal shall be accompanied by the documentation backing its legal basis.

Once arguments set forth in the appeal and documents provided have been examined, the National Agency of Industrial Property shall convey its decision to appellant in writing.

If the resolution issued by the National Agency of Industrial Property rejects the appeal’s legal grounds, appellant shall be informed in writing of such rejection, which shall be published in the official gazette. In the event of a favorable resolution to the appellant, action shall be taken according to the terms set forth in Article 23 hereunder, if applicable.

If after three (3) years from the granting of the patent, or four (4) years from the filing of the application, whichever expires last, the invention has not been exploited or the exploitation of the invention has been interrupted for more than one (1) year for no reason, any person with capacity to exploit the invention shall petition to the National Agency of Industrial Property that a compulsory license for the patent in question be granted on his/her behalf.

No compulsory license shall be granted if lack or insufficiency of exploitation results from Acts of God or force majeure, or circumstances beyond patent owner’s control and which justify the lack or insufficiency of exploitation. Exploitation’s lack of financial resources or financial viability shall be considered reasonable circumstances.

Any person interested in obtaining a compulsory license must apply for it at the National Agency of Industrial Property. Such application shall include the conditions under which he or she intends to obtain the compulsory license.

Any person applying for a compulsory license shall evidence that he or she has previously requested a contractual license from the patent owner, and has been unable to obtain it under the conditions and terms set forth in Article 40.

In the event of a national emergency or extreme urgency, or non-commercial use of the invention by a public agency, it shall not be imperative to comply with the above-indicated requirement. Should it be the case, the patent holder shall immediately be informed of the license granting. Such requirement shall not be fulfilled either in the event license is intended to remedy an anticompetitive practice.

1) Any public interest license carries payment of the appropriate fee in favor of patent owner. After prior hearing of the parties, and in the absence of an agreement, the amount and method of payment shall be set by the National Agency of Industrial Property, according to Article 44, subparagraph g).

2) A public interest license may refer to the execution of any acts referred to in Article 29, paragraph 1.

3) The provisions of Articles 43 and 44, to any extent applicable, shall apply to the granting of public interest licenses.

4) The granting of a compulsory license for public interest reasons shall not impair patent owner’s right to continue exploiting it.

At the request of any interested person or competent authority, the National Agency of Industrial Property shall be entitled to revoke a patent in the event of misuse of the rights conferred by the patent with respect to anti-competitive practices or the practice of taking advantage of a dominant market position which adversely affects the domestic economy.

Any petition for revocation shall be presented at least two years after the granting date of the initial compulsory license.

A utility model is considered to be any new form, configuration or arrangement of elements of any device, tool, instrument, mechanism or other object, or any portion thereof, which would allow for a better or different operation, use or manufacture of the object embodying it, or provide it with some sort of utility, advantage or technical effect which it did not previously have.

Utility models are protected by the granting of patents.

The utility model patent shall expire fifteen (15) years as of patent application filing date in Dominican Republic.

The utility model patent shall be subject to maintenance fees payable on the fifth and tenth anniversary from application’s filing date. Payment of such fees shall be subject to the provision established for payment of the yearly fees for invention patents.

An industrial design is considered to be any line arrangement or color match or any two-dimensional or three-dimensional external form embodied into an industrial or craft product so as to give it a special appearance, without interfering with the product’s predetermined intent or purpose.

The protection conferred upon an industrial design in the application of this law does not exclude or affect the protection that such design may enjoy by virtue of other legal provisions, particularly those associated with copyrights.

No industrial design which aspect is determined solely by a technical function or which does not involve any arbitrary contribution by designer shall be protected.

No industrial design which exact reproduction was necessary in order to allow for the product embodying it to be mechanically mounted on or connected to another product of which it is part or piece thereof, shall be protected.

No industrial design contrary to public order or moral standards shall be protected.

The designer of an industrial design is the owner of the right to obtain protection for such design. If the design has been conceived jointly by two or more persons, such right belongs to all of them jointly and may be transferred by way of an act among living persons or by succession.

If the industrial design has been created under a work or service or labor contract, the right to obtain a registration for such design is owned by the person who engaged or hired the service or employer, unless contractual provisions establish to the contrary.

The designer shall be mentioned as such in the appropriate registration and the official documents thereof, unless Designer indicates otherwise in a written statement addressed to the National Agency of Industrial Property. Any deal or agreement whereby an industrial design designer is bound to make such a statement in advance shall be null and void.