When it comes to Paraguay, two keywords immediately pop up in my mind: football and beauty. Paraguay is located in the central part of South America and is the only landlocked country in South America with a land area of 406,800 square kilometers. The headquarters of CONMEBOL is located in Luque, a metropolitan area of Asunción, Paraguay. Although its football strength is not as good as that of Argentina, it has also won the Copa America and reached the World Cup finals five times. The total population of Paraguay is 7.253 million, of which 95% are Indo-European mixed race, and the rest are Indians and Caucasians. The extremely high proportion of mixed blood has created the status quo of Paraguayan beautiful women. There are two reasons why the population ratio of Paraguay is so strange: one is that the second president, President López Sr., actively developed foreign relations, strengthened international cooperation, and encouraged immigrants from abroad; Becoming the "Napoleon of South America", he declared war with Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, and was finally defeated by the coalition forces of the three countries. Not only did Paraguay lose a large amount of territory, but it also caused Paraguay to lose nearly 60% of its population.
Paraguay's industrial foundation is weak, mainly in light industry and agricultural and animal husbandry product processing, the main products are canned meat, flour, beverages, tobacco, diesel, naphtha and so on. In order to attract foreign investment, the Paraguayan government formulated the "Domestic and Foreign Investment Law" in 1991, implementing special preferential policies for foreign investment, stipulating that 95% of profit tax will be exempted within 5 years. Foreign capital mainly comes from the United States, Brazil, and Argentina, and the investment is concentrated in the food, processing, textile and chemical industries. Paraguay is one of the few countries that has not yet established diplomatic relations with China, but this does not affect Chinese applicants' patent applications in Paraguay. The current President Benitez said that Paraguay, as a big food country, 30% of its economic output comes from agriculture, and exporting food has become particularly critical. Now Paraguay’s products cannot be exported to China, which brings a lot of pressure to the country and the people. It can be predicted that the establishment of diplomatic relations between Paraguay and China is just around the corner.
On August 10, 2022, representatives of the National Institute of Intellectual Property of Paraguay (DINAPI) signed a resolution to implement the second phase of the Patent Prosecution Highway Program (PPH). This regional instrument was agreed and signed by the IP Offices of the member countries of the Latin American Forum for Progress and Development (PROSUR/PROSUL), which include Brazil, Paraguay, Colombia, El Salvador, Peru, Ecuador, Dominica, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Introduction to the Patent System in Paraguay
1. Language in which patent applications are filed in Paraguay
spanish
2. Types of patent protection in Paraguay:
Inventions, utility models, designs
3. Paths for Chinese applicants to apply for patents in Paraguay:
Paris Convention
4. Review unit:
National Directorate of Intellectual Property (DINAPI) of Paraguay
5. submit application:
(1) Time limit requirements:
- Inventions/utility models: 12 months from the earliest priority date;
- Designs: 6 months from the earliest priority date.
(2) Submission method: through online submission on the DINAPI website;
6. Review process:
Formal examination: After submitting an application for an invention patent, utility model patent, or design patent, DINAPI initiates a preliminary investigation aimed at examining whether the submitted documents correspond to the content of the application, and confirms that the minimum requirements for continued examination are met. Reply to make corrections within 60 days from the date of publication;
Publication: After passing the preliminary examination, 18 months from the filing date of the patent application or the filing date of the priority application shall be published by the Industrial Property Office. Applicants may also request an early publication of applications by the stated deadline. Every patent application is kept confidential until it is published. This confidentiality also applies to requests that have been withdrawn or abandoned prior to publication. Once published, anyone can consult the archives of the Industrial Property Office and obtain full or partial copies of the deposited samples of biological material;
Substantive examination: Invention patents, utility model patents, and design patent applications all require substantive examination. The applicant must request substantive examination within three years from the date of filing the application. If substantive examination is not required, the application will be deemed abandoned ;
Authorization: After passing the formality examination and substantive examination procedures, if the examiner believes that the conditions for granted are met, the Industrial Property Office shall issue a decision to grant the patent right, and issue a license certificate and a copy of the patent document to the patentee.
Features of Paraguayan patents
1. The objection period is 60 working days after the announcement of the design granted, and anyone can raise an objection to the design patent application;
2. Anyone can submit third-party opinions before the substantive examination of invention patents and utility model patents;
3. Invention and utility model patents can be converted to each other.
Friendliness to Chinese applicants:
★★★
Gold content of patent rights:
★★
The degree of perfection of the rights protection mechanism:
★★
