Intellectual Property

• Patents and Utility Models
• Industrial Designs
• Plant Varieties
• Trademarks
• Trademark Registration in the Colon Free Zone and Customs Directorate
• Anti-counterfeiting Actions
• Copyright Law
• Domain Name Registration

Trust & Foundations

REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS FOR PATENTS AND UTILITY MODELS

Filing requirements:

• A Power of attorney with Assignment signed by the inventors and applicants, notarized by a Notary Public and duly authenticated by means of an Apostille or by the Consulate of the Republic of Panama.
• If the Applicant is a legal person or entity, a document issued by the proper governmental authorities (Register of Companies) in the country or state of origin of the applicant, certifying the legal existence (Certificate of Good Standing) of the applicant. This document must be duly legalized by a Consul of Panama or by the seal of the Apostille, if appropriate.
• Description of the invention, which must include the following information:
• The name of the invention,
• The technological sector to which the invention is related:
• The technology previously known by the applicant which could be useful for the comprehension and test of the invention, as well as reference to the mentioned documents and publications related to this technology;

  • Drawings, if it is the case;
  • Claims;
  • An abstract of the invention, which must consist of the summarized explanation of the description, claims and drawings; and if such is the case, the chemical formula as well or the drawing that distinguishes the invention.
  • When the invention refers to a product or biological procedure that supposes the use of biological material, the applicant must make a deposit of the biological material to complement the description. This shall be indicated on the description of the invention, together with the name and address of the depository institution, the date submitted and number of the submission of said material in a depository institution, as those acknowledged in the Budapest Treaty of 1977. The application must also describe the nature and characteristics of the material submitted, whenever necessary for the disclosure of the invention. The biological material submitted will constitute an integrant part of the description.
  • A certified copy of the priority document, translated into Spanish, if pertinent. It does not require any legalization. This document can be presented within the six (6) months counted as of the date of filing of the application in Panama.

Registration procedure
The Patent law grants a period of fourteen (14) months beginning from the date of filing of the application or date of priority of the application, to request before the Patent Office to prepare the report on the state of the art of the invention.

The publication of the bibliographical information will take place 18 months after the date of filing of the application or the priority date. The report on the state of the art will also be published in the Industrial Property Official Bulletin.
A period of two (2) months is given for third parties to submit observations against this report.
Any observations received will be sent to the applicant, who will also have a period of two (2) months to reply.
If no objections are submitted, the patent is granted.

Payment of registration fees for Patents

The first payment corresponding to the first five years will be paid at the moment of filing the application, and the following payments each quinquennial, counted as of the date of filing of the application. The payment can be done at any moment before the expiration of the respective quinquennial.
Our legislation will provide a grace period of six months for the payment of registration fees for patents, this will start to count from the date in which the respective payment should have been done.

Chart of the Registration procedure of Patents and Utility Models