Peruvian IP Improvements

As a result of the Free Trade Agreement between the US and Peru, and international agreements such as the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and the Trademark Law Treaty (TLT), the Peruvian Trademark and Patent Office (INDECOPI) has introduced new regulations like the Legislative Decree No. 1075 and Law No. 29316, which make it easier to protect intellectual property rights: invention patents and trademarks, as well as offering advantages to applicants.
Here, we detail the most important improvements that have come into force in Peru so far.
It is not necessary legalization by the Peruvian Consul abroad of a Power of Attorney for filing trademark, patent, utility models and industrial designs applications in Peru. It is sufficient a POA signed by the legal representative of the applicant company. A legalization of the Power of Attorney by the Peruvian Consul will only be required where amendments to the legal status of IP owners must be recorded, such as a change of name or address, for the assignment or transfer of an IP right, or for infringement actions.
Peru has now become a Receiver Office of PCT applications, which simplify the patent procedure, through the filing of a single international application for all or some of the 141 member countries of the treaty.
In the case of invention patent or utility model applications, the restoration of the priority right is possible within two months of the expiry date of the priority, where it has been impossible for the applicant to file the application within 12 months.
If during the examination of a patent application, the Peruvian Patent Office finds that there is an omission in the description or claims, or the drawings are not complete, the applicant will be required to remedy the omission within two months.
The remedy will then be accepted provided that the information omitted is contained in the priority. For this purpose, the applicant must have filed an affidavit at the moment of submitting the invention patent application, which reserves the possibility of amending the application for any omissions.
The possibility of filing multi-class trademark applications resulting in a single registration is now allowed. This provides a reduction in the fees related to their publication in the gazette El Peruano.
The above improvements are making the way IP cases are handled in Peru more efficient and the cost of doing so more competitive.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Lilie C. Delion
is senior manager at Estudio Delion. She has an extensive professional practice in Intellectual Property of more than 22 years . Authors of many Intellectual Property articles, she is currently member of the International Trademark Association-INTA, as well as the Peruvian Germany Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Chamber of Commerce of Spain in Peru.