El Salvador Assembly approves new Intellectual Property Law

Photo of author

By LatAm Reports Staff Writers

The new regulations create a new Salvadoran Institute of Intellectual Property and unites two laws: intellectual property and trademarks.

With 58 votes, the Legislative Assembly approved this Thursdaya new Intellectual Property Lawwhich unites current intellectual and trademark property laws, and creates a newSalvadoran Institute of Intellectual Propertyas a unit of the National Registration Centre (CNR).

The new legislation contains a 50 per cent exemption in fees for the registration of distinctive signs, patents and copyrightfor natural and legal persons classified as micro and small enterprises, thus duly accredited members of higher education institutions.

According to theDirector of the CNR, Camilo TriguerosThe new law would facilitate the procedures, differentiate costs and promote an electronic registry in its entirety.

We’re not changing the intellectual property scheme, but we could do it. But after 30 years many things have changed in the national and international context, technologies had not developed as they have now, they were paper governments,” Trigueros said, when he presented the project to theCommission of Salvadorans Abroad, Legislation and Government of the Legislative Assembly.

The official described it as a project that comes to break a little of schemes.

The newSalvadoran Institute of Intellectual PropertyIt shall process applications and grant the different intellectual property titles, publish in a bulletin the acts and intellectual property services, and promote the settlement of voluntary disputes in this area.

The new law, which also amends some fees and creates a new chapter on legal protection of intellectual property in digital environments, will begin its validity six months after publication in the Official Journal and grants a period of 90 days for the President of the Republic to issue a regulation.

Like the current laws, the new regulations will regulate different artistic, audiovisual, copyright and related works, computer programs, publishing contracts, theatrical performances, distinctive signs, brands, collective brands, commercial advertising signal, patents, inventions, industrial secrecy, among others.

This law goes in that sense (modernizing), now the CNR provides a quick service to the population, so congratulate the licentiate Camilo Trigueros. This law will be an additional tool to improve all those records of your companies, from your investigations.
Ana Figueroa, MP for New Ideas.

The project was presented on August 21, 2023 to higher education institutions in a seminar in which the Director of Innovation of the Presidency’s Innovation Secretariat, Erick Chang, the Director of the Intellectual Property Registry, Salvador Lizama, and the National Director of the Ministry of Education, Christian Aparicio, participated.

The current CNR Intellectual Property Registry received a total of 14,146 intellectual property applications in 2023, including 263 patents, including some nationals. According to the CNR, registration of computer programs (software) and video games has increased over the past year, accounting for almost 30 percent of the total.

This article has been translated after first appearing in Diario El Mundo