IP OVERVIEW OF CUBA

Cuba joined WIPO in 1975 and is a member of a series of international treaties on intellectual property, for example, Paris Convention (1904), Lisbon Agreement (1966), Madrid Agreement (1989), Berne Convention (1997), and Vienna Agreement (1997). Cuba is also a member and signatory to TRIPsAgreement (1995).

However, in recent ten years, Cuba has been quite slow in developing domestic IP legal system. The only major IP law by the Legislature in Cuba is Law on Copyright enacted in 1977 and revised in 1994, while other more specific IP laws are those issued by the Executive, for instance, Decree- Law on Inventions and Industrial Design and Models (2011), Decree-Law on the Protection of Plant Varieties (2011), Decree-Law on Layout Designs of Integrated Circuits (2011), and Decree-Law on Geographical Indications (2002).

The national IP offices of Cuba is National Copyright Center (CENDA) and Ministry of Culture which are in charge of the copyright fields, and Cuban Industrial Property Office (CIPO), Ministry of Science and Technology and Environment, the three of which are responsible for affairs related to industrial property including patent for inventions and utility models, designs, trademarks and geographical indications.

In recent years, Cuba has changed its foreign policy to open to and welcome investment especially from the neighboring countries like Mexico and the United States, with agriculture and biotechnology as the key sectors for investment. Therefore, business and companies planning to do business in Cuba need to consider how to protect their own intellectual property such as trademarks.