Corporate Affairs and Intellectual Property Office
Encyclopedia
The Corporate Affairs and Intellectual Property Office (CAIPO) is a Barbadian governmental agency
in charge of various aspects of industrial property right
affairs including: patent
s, trademark
s, and industrial design
s. It is a division of the Ministry of Industry & International Business. The CAIPO office is located on Belmont Road, Saint Michael, Barbados
. The country ranks as one of the top countries where the greatest number of foreign patents are legally based.
Intellectual Property in Barbados are covered by the following acts:
At the international level, the Department works very closely with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and its subregional unit known as the Cooperation for Development Bureau for Latin American and Caribbean.
Currently Barbados has yet to finalise or is absent from:
ccTLD and second-level domains including: .co.bb , .com.bb , .net.bb , .org.bb , .info.bb , .store.bb , .tv.bb , .biz.bb .
Government of Barbados
Government of Barbados consists of: The Monarch, HM Queen Elizabeth II ; The Prime Minister, The Hon. Freundel Stuart, and his Cabinet; as legislature, divided into two chambers , and an independent judiciary...
in charge of various aspects of industrial property right
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
affairs including: patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
s, trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
s, and industrial design
Industrial design
Industrial design is the use of a combination of applied art and applied science to improve the aesthetics, ergonomics, and usability of a product, but it may also be used to improve the product's marketability and production...
s. It is a division of the Ministry of Industry & International Business. The CAIPO office is located on Belmont Road, Saint Michael, Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
. The country ranks as one of the top countries where the greatest number of foreign patents are legally based.
National legislation
Corporate Affairs in Barbados are covered by the following acts:- Companies Act
- Registration of Business Names Act
- Bills of Sale Act
- Small Business Development Act
- Notarial acts
- Public Documents Act
- Pharmacy Act
- Limited Partnerships Act
- Registration of Newspapers Act
- Trade Unions Act
Intellectual Property in Barbados are covered by the following acts:
- Trademarks Act
- Patents Act
- Industrial Designs Act
At the international level, the Department works very closely with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and its subregional unit known as the Cooperation for Development Bureau for Latin American and Caribbean.
Treaties and conventions
Barbados is a signatory to the following copyright and intellectual property treaties and conventions influencing local laws:| Treaty or Convention | Year it was established | Locally ratified into law |
|---|---|---|
| Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, usually known as the Berne Convention, is an international agreement governing copyright, which was first accepted in Berne, Switzerland in 1886.- Content :... , |
1886 | ratified: 30 July 1983 |
| Geneva Convention for the Producers of Phonograms Against Unauthorized Duplication | 1971 | ratified: July 29, 1983 |
| Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents - (the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents) | 1961 | Succession for Barbados 30 November 1966. Barbados maintains that since the United Kingdom entered into the agreement on 24 February 1965 that it is compulsory for Barbados which didn't become independent until 1966. |
| Nice Agreement concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of Registration of Marks International (Nice) Classification of Goods and Services The Nice Classification is a system of classifying goods and services for the purpose of registering trademarks. The latest 9th version of the system groups products into 45 classes , and allows users seeking to trademark a good or service to choose from these classes as appropriate... |
1967 | ratified: 12 March 1985 |
| Nairobi Treaty (Olympic Symbol) | ratified: 28 February 1986 | |
| Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, signed in Paris, France, on March 20, 1883, was one of the first intellectual property treaties. It established a Union for the protection of industrial property... |
1883 (as revised in 1967) | ratified: 12 March 1985 |
| Patent Cooperation Treaty Patent Cooperation Treaty The Patent Cooperation Treaty is an international patent law treaty, concluded in 1970. It provides a unified procedure for filing patent applications to protect inventions in each of its contracting states... (PCT) |
1970 | ratified: 12 March 1985 |
| Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisations | 1961 | ratified: 18 September 1983 |
| Universal Copyright Convention Universal Copyright Convention The Universal Copyright Convention , adopted at Geneva in 1952, is one of the two principal international conventions protecting copyright; the other is the Berne Convention.... (UCC-Geneva) |
1952 | ascension: 03 March 1983 |
| Universal Copyright Convention Universal Copyright Convention The Universal Copyright Convention , adopted at Geneva in 1952, is one of the two principal international conventions protecting copyright; the other is the Berne Convention.... (UCC-Paris) |
(as revised in 1971) | ascension: 03 March 1983 |
| Membership to the WIPO | ||
| WTO-TRIPS Agreement on the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights The Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights is an international agreement administered by the World Trade Organization that sets down minimum standards for many forms of intellectual property regulation as applied to nationals of other WTO Members... |
1994 | ratified: 1 January 1995 |
Currently Barbados has yet to finalise or is absent from:
| Treaty or Convention | Year it was established | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Brussels Convention Relating to the Distribution of Programme–Carrying Signals Transmitted by Satellite | 1974 | Some provisions within the United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... –Caribbean Basin Initiative Caribbean Basin Initiative The Caribbean Basin Initiative was a unilateral and temporary United States program initiated by the 1983 "Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act" . The CBI came into effect on January 1, 1984 and aimed to provide several tariff and trade benefits to many Central American and Caribbean countries.... already have recourse for United States-based satellite providers to be compensated through other means within that act. |
| Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure (Budapest) | 1977 | |
| Patent Law Treaty Patent Law Treaty The Patent Law Treaty is a patent law multilateral treaty concluded on 1 June 2000 in Geneva, Switzerland, by 53 States and the European Patent Organisation... (PLT) |
2000 | |
| WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) | 1996 | |
| WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty The WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty is an international treaty signed by the member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization was adopted in Geneva on December 20, 1996... (WPPT) |
1996 | |
Domain names and trademarks
Additionally CAIPO is entrusted with the handling of legal issues pertaining to Barbados' .bb.bb
.bb is the Internet country code top-level domain for Barbados. The .bb top-level domain has been maintained by several administrators since its creation. The first of which was the University of Puerto Rico. In 1996 the Government of Barbados sought the relegation of .bb to the incumbent local...
ccTLD and second-level domains including: .co.bb , .com.bb , .net.bb , .org.bb , .info.bb , .store.bb , .tv.bb , .biz.bb .
See also
- Patent officePatent officeA patent office is a governmental or intergovernmental organization which controls the issue of patents. In other words, "patent offices are government bodies that may grant a patent or reject the patent application based on whether or not the application fulfils the requirements for...
- List of parties to international copyright treaties
- List of parties to international patent treaties
- List of parties to international related rights treaties