IP in BES-Islands

Trademark law and practice
The Netherlands Antilles, consisting of the islands Curacao, the Dutch part of St. Maarten, Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius, ceased to exist as of October 10th, 2010.

As of October 10th, 2010 Curacao and the Dutch part of St. Maarten have become autonomous constituent states of the Dutch Kingdom, while the islands Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius have become Dutch municipalities known as the BES-Islands or the Caribbean Netherlands.

A new Trademark Law has been approved in the BES-Islands and the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property will manage the Trademark Registry for the BES-Islands.

In order to maintain and protect current national Antillean Trademark rights, current Netherlands Antilles Trademark holders were able to file maintenance/confirmation applications for the BES-Islands. This could be done up to October 10th, 2011. Failure to file maintenance applications by October 10th, 2011 means that there is no protection for Netherlands Antilles registrations in the BES-islands as of October 11th, 2011 unless a new application is filed with the Benelux Trademark Bureau

The BES-Islands as a single territory are a party to the Paris Union Convention for the protection of industrial property. Furthermore, the BES-Islands may be designated as a territory under the Madrid Protocol.

First to file
First filing of the mark determines who acquires the exclusive right to use the mark.
A trademark or service mark registration can be declared null and void by the court upon the petition of any interested party, if no normal use of the mark has been made during an uninterrupted period of five years. Renewed use after such a five-year period can serve to fulfill the use requirement. Registrations and subsequent renewals are valid for 10 years.

Normal use means customary commercial use of the mark to distinguish the goods or services from those of other producers or service providers, with the purpose of maintaining or increasing market share, as opposed to mere token or symbolic use, with the intent to keep a registration valid.

For further details about the registration process please contact us at trademark@arubalaw.com.