PROSECUTION GUIDELINES

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You will find here all the important information about filing trademarks, designs and patents.

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Ecuador

GDP: $108,398 BILLION

IMPORTS: $24,932 BILLION

POPULATION: 17,084,357

TOTAL AREA: 283,560 KM2

OFFICIAL LANGUAGES: SPANISH

CURRENCY: UNITED STATES DOLLAR ($) (USD)

Local time:
WIPO-administered Treaties:

Contracting Party of The Paris Convention: YES.

Contracting Party of The Hague Agreement on Industrial Designs: NO.

Applicable Law:

Decision 486 of the Andean Commission Community, local IP Law.

Grace period for filing applications, from disclosure:

1 year.

Multiple design applications -one application for different embodiments-available:

NO.

Formal filing requirements:
  • Identification of the applicant and the designer (including address and nationality).
  • Brief description of the design.
  • Drawings.
  • Assignment document, if applicable, which needs to be notarised and legalised.
  • Priority document, if applicable, which must be certified.
  • Power of Attorney (notarised and legalised).
  • International class, or the type of the goods the design intends to be applied to.
Locarno classification:

YES.

Deferred publication:

NO.

Registration Proceeding Outline:
  • Filing.
  • Formal examination.
  • Publication.
  • Opposition.
  • Decision.
Opposition:

YES, before granting, within 30 business days from publication date.

Average time from filing to grant:

13 months.

Term of Protection and Maintenance:

10 years from priority date if claimed. Designs do not pay annuities.

WIPO-administered Treaties:
  • Contracting Party of The Paris Convention: YES.
  • Contracting Party of The Madrid System: NO.
Trade Mark Law in force:

Decision 486 of the Andean Community. The Andean Pact Decision provides for one common trade mark law among the member countries (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru). It does not provide a common registration procedure, but it provides for certain reciprocal rights to be available upon request of the trade mark owner. For example, an entity that first applied for registration of a trade mark in any Member Country, may lodge an opposition against a similar mark filed in the other Member Countries.

Classification:

Nice classification, 11th edition

Multiclass Applications:

Not possible.

Registrable trade marks:

All distinctive and graphically representable signs, such as words, names, acronyms, letters, numbers, devices, emblems, holograms, colours, combinations or shades of colours, three-dimensional forms, the three-dimensional form of a good or its packaging, trade dress, sound marks and olfactory marks.

Formal filing requirements:
  • Power of Attorney duly notarised and legalised within 60 days from the official request.
  • Certified copy of the priority application and its translation into Spanish within 9 months from the priority date.
Examination:
  • Absolute grounds for refusal: YES.
  • Relative grounds for refusal: YES.
Opposition period:

30 working days from publication date.

Average time from filing to grant:

Approximately 8-12 months, unless any obstacles were raised.

Term of protection:

10 years from the date of registration.

Use requirements:

YES. Cancellation can be requested if the trade mark has not been used for 3 years in any member state of the Andean Pact, counting from the date of registration. Partial cancellation is possible.

Renewal terms:

6 months prior to renewal date.

 

Grace period:

6 months.

Link to Trade Mark Office:
WIPO-administered Treaties:

Contracting Party of The Paris Convention: YES.

Contracting Party of The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT): YES. Due term for entry into national phase: 31 months.

Patent Law in force:

Decision 486Andean Community (Cartagena Agreement Dec 1, 2000) and IP Law, December 9, 2016.

Types of protection available:
  • Patent of Invention.
  • Utility Model.
First filing requirements with the local Patent Office for inventions made by nationals:

NO.

Formal filing requirements:
  • Power of Attorney duly notarized and legalized within 60 days from office action.
  • Assignment document from the inventors duly notarized and legalized within 60 days from office action. Not required under certain circumstances.
  • Certified copy of priority application within 16 months from priority (not required for entry into national phase of PCT applications provided that PCT/IB304 form is available).
Filing of the patent application in a foreign language:

NOT available.

Substantive examination must be requested by the applicant:

YES, the examination must be requested in the period of 6 months after publication. Payment of required fees is due within a 6-month term after receipt of official request.

Search report must be requested by the applicant:

NO.

Observations by third parties:

YES, within 60 working-days from publication.

Opposition:

YES, within 60 working-days from publication.

Average time from filing to grant:

7 years.

Term of protection for patents:

20 years from priority date in the case of Convention applications, international filing date (PCT applications), or national filing date (no priority claim).

Term of protection for utility models:

10 years from priority date in the case of Convention applications, international filing date (PCT applications), or national filing date (no priority claim).

Differences between utility model and patent:

UM suitable for utensils, instruments, tools, apparatus, devices, or any parts or improvements thereof, but not to chemical products, compositions, substances, methods or uses; lower threshold for inventive step. Uses are excluded from patentability both for patents and utility models.

Maintenance:

Yearly also during prosecution of the application.

Marking of the product with the application/ patent number:

NOT mandatory.

Compulsory licensing:

YES.