The Cayman Islands is expected to pass a new trade mark law next month, for implementation some time in 2017. The new law will end the practice of protecting marks in the Cayman Islands by extending an existing UK or EU registration. Instead, applications will need to be filed directly with the Cayman Islands Intellectual Property Office.
This new law means that the Cayman Islands will leave the club of countries and territories where trade mark protection can be obtained by extending or re-registering a national registration from another country. The list currently includes Anguilla, Bahamas, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Fiji, Gibraltar, Grenada, Tuvalu, Guernsey and Guyana.
The Cayman Islands is a popular location for businesses wishing to locate their IP offshore in a tax-efficient jurisdiction. (See our previous post on
IP and tax.) This change to the law will undoubtedly be welcomed by businesses who wish to protect their brands in the Cayman Islands but have no need of a UK or EU trade mark registration. It represents a simplification of the system, and should prevent businesses who only want to protect and use their brands in the Cayman Islands being blocked by owners of earlier UK/EU registrations who have no connection to the Cayman Islands.
It may be that the Cayman Islands is following the path taken by the UK in 1994, and using this opportunity to update its trade mark law to become eligible to join the Madrid Protocol. That would be a move which would be welcomed by brand owners who wish to benefit from Cayman Islands ownership of their IP assets, and the efficiencies of the Madrid system for protecting their trade marks. Watch this space?
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