Título IV. Del Registro de la propiedad intelectual

Without prejudice to the provisions of the Law on Copyright and Related Rights, the Intellectual Property Register is the competent administrative authority to:

a)Organize and administer the register of industrial property rights;

b)Perform all the functions and powers assigned to it by this law;

c)Develop dissemination, training and education programs in matters of intellectual property rights; and

d)Carry out any other functions or powers established by law or in the respective regulation.

The Register shall be in charge of a Registrar, assisted in the performance of his functions by one or more Sub-registrars, who shall act by delegation therefrom. All such public officials shall be attorneys and notaries, active collegiate members, Guatemalans by origin and have at least five years of professional practice.

The Register shall have such staff as necessary to fulfill its powers, and may request and receive through the Ministry of Economy the collaboration and support of international, regional or national entities for the better performance of its functions. The power to admit and decide applications, as well as to issue certifications and reports requested by other authorities, may not be delegated by the Registrar or the Sub-registrars.

The Registrar, the Sub-registrars and the staff of the Register are prohibited from handling matters directly or indirectly, in their own name or on behalf of third parties, before the Register itself. The Registrar, the Sub-registrars, public officials and employees of the Register shall observe strict impartiality in all their actions. Violation of the provisions of this article shall be punished in accordance with the law.

The Registry is public and all the books and files to which this law refers may be consulted in its offices by any person, who may obtain photocopies or certifications thereof, with the exception of such documentation relating to patent applications and applications for registration of industrial designs as is reserved until the time limits established in Articles 114 and 158 of this law elapse.

The books or any other medium in which entries are made may not leave the offices of the Registry for any reason, and any judicial or administrative action shall be carried out therein in the presence of a public official designated by the Registrar.

The data from the registrations and other entries recorded in the Registry shall be presumed to be publicly known and, consequently, shall affect third parties without the need for any other publication requirement.

For purposes of the classification of the goods and services for which registration of marks is sought, the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Registration of Marks shall apply.

When there is doubt as to the class in which a good or a service should be placed, it shall be resolved by the Registry, which may, if it deems it appropriate, make the pertinent technical consultations. In any case, publications issued by the World Intellectual Property Organization with respect to mark classification shall be taken into account as a guide on the correct classification of goods and services.

Goods or services shall not be considered similar to each other on the ground that they appear in the same class, nor shall they be considered different from each other on the ground that they appear in different classes.

For purposes of classifying by their technical subject matter the documents relating to invention patents and utility model patents, the International Patent Classification shall apply.

For purposes of classifying industrial designs, the International Classification for Industrial Designs shall apply.

When the international classifications mentioned in the preceding articles are subject to amendments or updates, the Ministry of Economy may, by ministerial agreement, authorize the Registry to apply the classifications in their most modern and updated version.

The Registry shall have in its offices copies or exemplars of the international classifications mentioned in this chapter, so that they may be consulted at no cost by users or interested parties.

When, as a consequence of the application of a classification referred to in Articles 164, 165 and 166 of this Law, in its updated version, applications or registrations require adaptation thereto, the applicant or holder may request modification of the application or registration in compliance with Article 14 of this Law, without prejudice to the authority of the Registry to make the pertinent technical consultations in case of doubt. *Final paragraph added by Article 30 of Decree Number 3-2013 of 26-06-2013

The fees applicable in accordance with this Law shall be fixed by the Executive Branch by means of Governmental Agreement and through the Ministry of Economy.

When the applicant for a patent or a registration is the inventor or the designer himself, who has not made the invention, the utility model or the industrial design in performance of a contract for work, services or labor, and whose economic situation does not allow him to defray the fees for processing his patent application or for maintaining the granted patent, he shall be required to pay only one-tenth of the amount of the respective fee. For such purpose, he shall attach to the respective application or, alternatively, submit at the time of paying the annual or extension fees, a notarial record in which a declaration under oath of such circumstances is set forth.

If it is established that the information contained in the declaration referred to in paragraph one above does not conform to the truth, the applicant shall proceed to pay the difference in the amount of the fees, without prejudice to any criminal liability that may correspond.

If, before five years have elapsed from the filing date of the patent or registration application, such application or the rights derived therefrom are transferred to a third party, the transfer shall not be recorded until payment of the difference in the amount of the fee that would ordinarily have been payable is proven. Excepted from this provision is transfer by succession when the heir or heirs lack the economic capacity to pay the amount of the respective fees, which they must prove in the same manner established in paragraph one of this article.

To keep a patent in force, annual fees shall be paid. Two or more annual fees may be paid in advance.

Each annual fee must be paid in advance, before each anniversary of the filing date of the application. The first annual fee shall be paid before the beginning of the third year counted from the filing date of the application.

An annual fee may also be paid within the six months following its expiry, but in this case the corresponding surcharge must also be paid. The patent shall remain in full force during that grace period.

Failure to pay any of the annual fees in accordance with this article shall by operation of law cause the lapse of the patent.

The receipt evidencing payment of annual fees must be submitted to the Register, so that the payment is noted and a notation is made in the registration of the patent. The receipt shall be returned to the holder of the patent, immediately after the corresponding entry or notation has been made and with a certification evidencing it.

The fees applicable for the information services and issuance of certifications provided by the Registry shall be fixed by the Executive Branch by means of a Governmental Agreement through the Ministry of Economy.