Patent Information

The Constitution of Costa Rica guarantees the inventor the use of its invention for a limited period of time. The patent law in Costa Rica establishes that an invention is a product, a machine, a tool, or the Invention patent protects procedure of fabrication.

The patent law allows requesting the registration of patents for improvements made on a product or procedure, which has already been patented. There is a term of one year, after the patent is given to the original inventor, to request the improvements made to it.

Inventions that can be patented:

An invention can be patented if it is new, if it has a level of ingenuity and is susceptible to industrial application.

An invention is considered new if it does not exist anywhere else in the world and its foundations have not been used or put to practice by any media, unless it has been presented in an official exposition. In this case, the filing in Costa Rica must be made within the six months following the date of the exposition.

An invention is considered to be susceptible to industrial application when the object can be used or produced in industry, industry meaning the areas of craftsmanship, agriculture, mining, fishing and other services.

The following are not considered inventions, according to the patents law of Costa Rica:

Discoveries, scientific theories, mathematical methods and computer programs.
Vegetables and animal species, essentially biological procedures to obtain new animal or vegetable species, as well as the micro-biological procedures to obtain these products;
Plans, principles or methods, of economical, business, mental or intellectual activities;
The methods used for treatment of medical or therapeutic problems, as well as the methods to obtain diagnosis of the human or animal body.

Duration of the Patent

The duration of patents relative to medication, articles and substances with therapeutic purposes, beverages, nutritional products, fertilizers, agrochemical in general and substances or products related to weed and pest control, have a duration of one year after the patent is given.

All other patents given will have duration of twelve years, after the patent is given.

In the case of foreign inventions, the patents will be given for a term of twelve years.

Exploitation of the patent

In the four years after the filing of the patent, or the three years following the already registered patent, the owner must exploit the patent. If this is not done, any person can request a permit or license to exploit the patent.

Foreign Patents

It is possible to register a foreign patent in Costa Rica -meaning a patent which has already been registered in another country- as long as it is done in the following six months from the registration in that country.

PATENT REGISTRATION

To register a Patent in Costa Rica, the following requisites must be met:

General Information:

Name, domicile, and general information of filing.

Name, domicile, and other particulars of the inventor or inventors.

For the address of the nearest Costa Rican Consul please go to .

Special Power of Attorney: The person or company requesting must sign a special power of attorney to be represented in the necessary procedures for registration. The Costa Rican Consul in your area must authenticate this document, the address for the Costa Rican Consul can be found at www.rree.go.cr .

Registration certification: When the patent has been duly registered in the country, a registration certificate from the Patents' Registry of the country of origin, indicating the date of registration of the patent in that country, the international classification number of the patent and all relevant models, must be attached. If registration of the patent has not yet been finalized, an application certificate can be enclosed.

Expiration document: Certification issued by the Patent's Registry of the Country of Origin, stating the date of the request of the patent or the date of registration in its case; as well as the patents' life period.

Transference document: When the requester is not the inventor, an assignment document is required, evidencing the assignment of rights in favor of the requester. In case there are several inventors, all of them must sign the assignment.

Patent Information: Information for the patent must include the following:

	Title of invention: It must be brief and make direct reference to the essence or direct matter of the invention. It must indicate whether the invention claimed refers to a procedure, a product, or both categories. This title does not contain denominations of fantasy names, trademarks, nor other designations to which the invention substance specifically refers.
	Drawings: The necessary drawings to understand the invention must be filed, and a summary of these documents included.
	General description of invention: This description must be clear and complete, giving one or more concrete examples and identification whenever possible, of what would give the most satisfactory results in its industrial exploitation.

Summary: A synthesis of what was divulged in the description, claims, and drawings, indicating the technological sector to which the invention belongs, the main uses of this invention, must be attached. If that is the case, the chemical formula or the drawing that characterizes the invention must also be included. When the summary includes a drawing, its corresponding reference number in parentheses must follow each technical characteristic mentioned therein.

For questions and comments please contact : info@fournierlaw.com
Last updated: April 18, 2008. Legal and Copyright Information.