Invention Patents in the Dominican Republic
Patents are defined as the exclusive right granted by the State to a person or company over an invention for a specific period of time. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a patent gives its holder the authority to decide whether a third party may use the invention, as well as under what conditions it may be used.
The main actors in the patent system are the State, the inventor, and society. The State grants the right of exclusivity over the invention through the patent; the inventor is the person who conceived the invention and who holds the exclusive right to it; and society benefits from the development of new technologies.
There are two types of patents: Invention Patents and Utility Model Patents. In the first case, protection applies to true inventions—that is, the creation of something that did not previously exist—and lasts for 20 years. In the case of utility models, protection applies to modifications and adaptations of an existing product or process, and its validity is 15 years.
The process of obtaining patents in the Dominican Republic is governed by Law No. 20-00 on Industrial Property and its amendments. According to this legal framework, the National Office of Industrial Property (ONAPI) is the authority in charge of regulating the entire process, first verifying that inventions meet the patentability requirements established in Law No. 20-00—namely, novelty, industrial applicability, and inventive step.
According to the law, the duration of the process for obtaining an invention patent may not exceed five years from the date of filing the application. The applicant must also pay the annual fees for the application or patent on time to maintain its validity.
The purpose of patenting inventions is to ensure or prevent third parties from commercializing the patented invention without the prior consent of its holder. In this sense, by patenting an invention, the holder significantly reduces the risk of imitators and positions themselves in the market with exclusive rights to exploit the product or process. Having a patent allows the inventor or company to take effective legal action against those who attempt to copy the protected invention, thus maintaining their competitive advantage in the market.
Finally, when applying for a patent, the applicant should consider whether they are interested in protecting their invention in foreign countries as well, thereby enjoying exclusive rights not only in the country where the original application was filed but also in those markets where the invention may have commercial potential.