Nicaragua – Latam Guideline
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- Nicaragua – Latam Guideline
Trademarks
Patents
Designs
Data protection
Trademarks
WIPO-administered Treaties:
Contracting Party of the Paris Convention: YES.
Contracting Party of the Madrid System: NO.
Trade Mark Law in force:
Law 380 of Trade Marks and other Distinctive Signs of 2000, amended by Law No. 1024 on 3 April 2020.
Classification:
Nice classification, 10th edition.
Multiclass Applications:
YES.
Registrable trademarks:
Words or a group of words, advertising slogans and phrases, letters, numbers, monograms, shapes, portraits, labels, coats of arms, designs, cartoons, borders, lines and stripes, and combinations and arrangements of colors, sounds or other perceptible signs such as smells.
Formal filing requirements:
- Power of Attorney duly notarized and legalized within 2 months from the application date. Original copy is required. Possible extension of term.
- Certified copy of priority application and its translation into Spanish within 3 months from the application date.
Examination:
Absolute grounds for refusal: YES.
Relative grounds for refusal: YES.
Opposition period:
30 Working days from publication, with the option to extend it once, for 15 additional working days. The extension must be requested before the original 30- day period expires.
Average time from filing to grant:
Approximately 10 months, unless any obstacles were raised.
Term of protection:
10 years from the date of registration.
Use requirements:
YES. Cancellation can be requested if the trademark has not been used for 3 years, counting from the registration date. Partial cancellation is possible.
Renewal terms:
1 year prior to renewal date.
Grace period: 6 months.
Patents
WIPO-administered Treaties:
Contracting Party of the Paris Convention: YES
Contracting Party of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT): YES. Due term for entry into national phase: 30 months.
Patent Law in force:
Patent Law 354/2000 (modified by Law 574 and Law 634)
Types of protection available:
Patent of Invention; Utility Model.
Formal filing requirements:
- Power of Attorney duly notarized and legalized within 60 days from office action. 30 day extension of term. Original only.
- Assignment document from the inventors duly notarized and legalized within 60 days from office action.
- Certified copy of priority application within 90 days from office action (not required for entry into national phase of PCT applications provided that PCT/IB304 form is available).
- Sequence listings must be filed in WIPO Standard ST.26 format.
Filing of the patent application in a foreign language:
NOT possible.
Substantive examination must be requested by the applicant:
YES, within 6 months from publication.
Search report must be requested by the applicant:
NO
Observations by third parties:
YES, at any time prior to grant.
Opposition:
NO
Average time from filing to grant:
6-7 years
Term of protection for patents:
20 years from filing date.
Term of protection for utility models:
10 years from filing date.
Differences between utility model and patent:
UM suitable for utensils, instruments, tools, apparatus, devices, or any parts or improvements thereof, but not to chemical products, methods or uses; lower threshold for inventive step.
Maintenance:
Yearly; also during prosecution of the application.
Compulsory licensing:
YES
Designs
WIPO-administered Treaties:
Contracting Party of The Hague System: NO.
Applicable Law:
Law 354, on Patents, Utility Models and Industrial Designs. TRIPS.
Grace period for filing applications, from disclosure:
1 year.
Multiple design applications -one application for different embodiments-available:
YES, provided that all embodiments refer to products included in the same Locarno class.
Formal filing requirements:
Power of Attorney. Notarized + Apostilled. 60 days from Office Action.
Assignment document. Notarized + Apostilled. 60 days from Office Action
Certified copy of the priority document (if applicable): 90 days from Office Action.
3 graphic or photographic reproductions of the design (if two-dimensional, the reproduction may be replaced by a sample of the product incorporating the design).
Locarno classification:
YES.
Deferred publication:
YES, by request of the applicant, any time prior to the publication order. The Office will defer publication for the time specified in the request, which may not exceed 12 months from the filing date of the application.
Registration Proceeding Outline:
Filing. Formal examination. Publication. Opposition. Substantive examination. Grant. Certificate of registration.
Opposition:
NO. Third parties –or even the applicant- may, at any time before a final decision is issued, file comments and documents that may be relevant to the case. The Office then notifies the applicant thereof and issues a decision within a 2-months term from the date on which the comments and documents were notified to the applicant -except if the applicant is filing the comments and documents or requests that proceedings are resumed, before that period expires-. The filing of comments does entail the stay of proceedings. Such comments do not give rise to litigation either, and the one who files them does not become party in the procedure.
Average time from filing to grant:
8-12 months.
Term of Protection and Maintenance:
5 years, plus 2 renewal terms of 5 years each.
Data protection
Territory: Nicaragua
Data Protection Regulations: Law on the Protection of Personal Data (Law No. 787)
Regulatory purpose: The protection of natural or legal persons with regard to the processing, automated or otherwise, of their personal data in public and private data files.
The right to privacy, in order to guarantee the right to personal and family privacy and the right to informational self-determination.
Parties:
- Data controller: Yes. The controller is any natural or legal person, public or private, who decides on the purpose and content of the processing of personal data.
- Data Processor: No.
- Data Protection Officer: No.
- Supervisory Authority: No.
Principles:
- Information: data subjects should be informed when their data is collected;
- Purpose: data should only be used for the stated purpose and not for other purposes;
- Consent: data should not be disclosed without the data subject’s consent;
- Security: collected data should be kept safe from potential abuse;
- Disclosure: data subjects should be informed about who collects their data;
- Accountability: data subjects should have a method available to hold data collectors accountable for following the above principles.
Obligations:
- Register of Processing Activities: Yes. Every data controller must register in the Register of Data Files set up for this purpose by the Directorate for the Protection of Personal Data and wait for a decision on its registration within thirty days.
- Impact Assessments: No.
- Risk analysis: No.
- Technical and organisational security measures: Yes.
- Duty to inform: Yes.
- Data Protection Officer: No.
Data subjects’ rights:
- Right of Access: Yes.
- Right of rectification: Yes.
- Right of Suppression: Yes.
- Right to limitation: Yes.
- Right to portability: Yes.
- Right to object: Yes.
- Automated individual decisions, including profiling: No.
International transfers:
There are currently no mechanisms of adequacy or list of countries considered safe. In general terms, the Data Protection Act prohibits the assignment and transfer of personal data of any kind to countries or international organisations that do not provide adequate levels of security and protection.
The prohibition shall not apply in cases of international judicial collaboration, exchange of personal data in health matters, when necessary for epidemiological research, banking or stock exchange transfers, when the transfer has been agreed within the framework of international treaties ratified by the State of Nicaragua, and when the transfer is for the purpose of international cooperation between intelligence agencies in cases of crime.
Sanctioning regime:
Without prejudice to the administrative responsibilities of the controllers or users of public data files; of the liability for damages derived from the non-observance of this Law, and of the criminal sanctions, the Directorate for the Protection of Personal Data is responsible for applying the administrative sanctions of:
- Warning;
- Suspension of operations related to the processing of personal data; and
- Temporary or definitive closure or cancellation of personal data files. The amount of the sanctions must be determined in civil proceedings and will be determined by the competent judge, taking into account the particularities of each specific case.
Certification or accreditation of compliance for companies: No.
Other highlights: To date, the necessary steps for the creation of the Directorate for the Protection of Personal Data (DIPRODAP) have not been taken, so that despite the existence of the law in Nicaragua there are no mechanisms for its implementation and effectiveness.
