St Vincent and the Grenadines is a member of the Berne Convention, Paris Convention, Patent Cooperation Treaty and WIPO Convention.
The Commerce and Intellectual Property Office administers IP rights in the islands. The Office boasts an excellent and easy to navigate website and is a real stand out country in the region particularly when it is far from the wealthiest and has an estimated population of only 120,000.
When it comes to trade marks, St Vincent and the Grenadines has a modern law dating from 2003. It is modelled on the UK Trade Marks Act 1994 and those of you familiar with filing UK applications using a Form TM3 will spot instantly the similarities with the local form.
St Vincent and the Grenadines has an efficient trade mark system. It also operates an independent registered designs system, although there is little information regarding this on their website - probably because there are very few applications made.
The islands have shown a commitment to an effective and efficient intellectual property system and this may make them the next potential members of the Madrid Protocol. This could bring increased investment into the islands which are somewhat dependent on agriculture, especially bananas.
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