Trade and Service Marks

– Law No. 20-00 of May 8, 2000 on Industrial Property.
– Ruling No. 599-01, dated June 1, 2001, modifying Law No. 20-00.
– Ruling No. 180-03, dated March 3, 2003, modifying Ruling No. 599-01.
– Law No. 424-06, establishing the Free Trade Treaty among the Dominican Republic, Central America and the United States of America (DR-CAFTA).

Membership in International Conventions

– Paris Convention, Act of The Hague (1925), since April 6, 1951.
– Pan-American Convention (Buenos Aires 1910 and Washington 1929).
– Madrid Agreement for the Repression of False or Deceptive Indications of Source on Goods, Act of The Hague, since April 6, 1951.
– WTO’s TRIPS Agreement, since March 9, 1995.
– Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), since June 27, 2000.
– The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (Apostille), since August 30, 2009.
– Trademark Law Treaty, since December 13, 2011.
– Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration, Stockholm Act, since January 17, 2020.

Filing

Applicant (who may be): the owner of the trademark. 

Protection of foreigners and nationals not living in the country: the same as for nationals, but an attorney must be appointed. 

Scope of protection: trademarks, collective marks, certification marks, commercial names, service marks, names, pseudonyms, commercial slogans, combination of letters and numbers, monograms, figures, portraits, labels, shields, stamps, cartoons, borders, lines and bands, combinations and arrangements of colors and three-dimensional forms, presentation or conditioning of the products or their containers and wrappings, or of the means and locations of expending the corresponding products or services; local or foreign geographical indications, as long as they are sufficiently arbitrary and distinctive with regard to products or services  to which they are applied, and their use not to be likely to create confusion with respect to the origin, point of departure, qualities or characteristics of the products or services for which the trademarks are used, sounds and scents.

Marks for services: provided for in Art. 72.

Novelty: necessary.

Not registrable: provided by Articles 73 and 74 of the Law, particularly trademarks not admissible for reasons intrinsic to the symbol and because of rights of third parties,shape or color of products or containers, terms in general use, geographical and descriptive names, designs and words contrary to morals, reproduction and imitation of a registered trademark. 

National flags: national flags, coats of arms, etc. are not registrable. 

Names or portraits: name or firm name, words or representation of a particular person without his consent are not registrable.

Association marks: provided for, collective marks.

Priorities: permitted according to the provisions of the Convention (Act of The Hague).

Classification: International Classification of Goods and Services in accordance with the Nice Agreement. 

Multi-class applications: permitted. 

Territory covered: Dominican Republic.

Filing requirements for an application (to be sent to resident agent):
1. Power of attorney (no legalization required);
2. Electrotype;
3. 4 prints of the trademark;
4. List of goods or services to be protected;
5. Priority document, if priority is claimed (no legalization).

Note: if not restricted, one power of attorney may be used for all cases connected with the same applicant in this country. The documents may be late filed. No term for deposit is set, however, thirty days is the usual practice.

Electronic filing: available. 

Electronic signatures: are not accepted (only wet signatures). Scanned copies of signed documents are accepted for some trademark filings.

Examination Procedure

Amendment of application: possible. 

Examination: for prior rights.

Disputes about ownership: may be brought before the Legal Department of the National Office of Industrial Property. 

Application kept secret: the trademark application is not kept secret. 

Appeal: appeal against a decision of the Department may be made to the Commercial Court after exhausting administrative procedure. 

Urgent registration: not provided for. 

Provisional registration: not provided for.

Disclaimers: available.

Letters of consent: are accepted.  

Publication: in the Patents, Trademarks and Commercial Names Bulletin, which is published monthly by the National Office of Industrial Property. 

Opposition: within forty-five days counted from the publication of the trademark application.

Correction of registration: provided for.

Granting

Delivery of document: if there is no opposition after the examination of form and after a detailed examination, the registration will be granted for ten years. 

Beginning of protection: from the date of application for the registration. 

Kind of property: according to Article 71, the right to exclusive use of a trademark is acquired by means of its registration. 

Duration: ten years.

Renewals: may be made for further ten years. 

Latest term for renewal: counted from the date of expiry of the preceding period. 

Term of grace for renewal: six months counted from the expiry date of the registration.

Obligation to use: compulsory, within any three-year period from the date of registration, otherwise any person can record a cancellation action for non-use of the registration of the trademark. 

Nominal use: the Law in Article 94 provides the definition of use. Local use will avoid actions against registrations.

Marking of registered goods: not compulsory. 

Modification of the mark: not possible after publication. 

Changes in the list of goods: provided for. 

Assignment: must also be recorded. 

Licenses: must be recorded in the Dominican Republic to be accepted as valid.

Modification of Protection after Registration

Rights of prior user: permitted. 

Expropriation: not provided for. 

Nullification: provided for in Article 92.

Validation of invalidated marks: not provided for. 

Provision for restoration: not provided for. 

Registration of invalidated marks: not provided for. 

Infringement and penalties: whoever intentionally commits the following offenses shall incur in three months to two years of correctional prison and a fine of RD$ 50,000 to RD$ 100,000 or both penalties, without the consent of the holder of a distinctive symbol, it uses an identical symbol or a registered trademark, or a direct copy or fraudulent imitation of that trademark, with relation to the products or services which it distinguishes, or to related products or services; without the consent of the holder of a distinctive symbol, it carries out, with respect to a commercial name, a sign or emblem, the following acts: it uses commercially an identical distinctive symbol for an identical or related business; it uses a similar distinctive symbol commercially when this is likely to cause confusion.