GUYANA
Service marks are not registrable in Guyana under the current act. Our firm has, however, persuaded the Registrar of Trademarks to give a liberal interpretation to the provisions of the act that allow UK-registered marks to be automatically registered in Guyana, so as to enable the registration in Guyana in Part C of the register of service marks that have been registered in the UK.
The Patents & Designs Act provides only for inventions to be patented in Guyana, with the exception that a chemical process or pharmaceutical preparation that has been patented in the UK is automatically registrable here.
It takes approximately five years for a trademark to be registered and longer for a patent due to the delays involved in obtaining professional examinations of applications.
T e Trademarks Registry is in the process of being computerised with the aim of expediting searches and registrations, but signifi cant improvements have not to date taken place, largely due to lack of qualifi ed registry staff .
T e protection against infringement of trademarks aff orded by the Trade Marks Act has led to a number of high profi le cases being successfully prosecuted in Guyana, in all of which this fi rm has been involved.
The litigation has resulted from the fact that piracy in trademarked goods is big business in Guyana, with practically all counterfeit goods being imported from China.
It is to be noted that there are no customs or other laws in Guyana that specifically address the importation of counterfeit goods. It has therefore been left to individual proprietors who wish to do so to seek protection by bringing actions for trademark infringement.
So, in C.J. Clark International Ltd v Mohan Lall, where the defendant had imported counterfeit ‘Clarks’ shoes from China into Guyana, the plaintiff had
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to resort to an action for infringement of its locally registered trademark. It succeeded in having the counterfeit goods seized pursuant to an order akin to an Anton Piller order (ex parte search order) and the goods were returned to the defendant only aſt er the off ending mark had been removed.
Similar action was taken by the plaintiff in 2007 in Unilever PLC v Mohamed Khan, where the defendant had imported counterfeit ‘Lux’ soap from China into Guyana. The action for infringement by the plaintiff of its locally registered trademark Lux resulted in the seizure and eventual destruction of the counterfeit goods.
The 2001 case of Sterling Products Ltd v Continental Agencies Ltd involved two local companies. The defendant infringed the plaintiff ’s registered trademark Baker’s Pride and the resulting litigation saw the court ordering the seizure and destruction of all packaging material bearing the plaintiff ’s trademark.
More recently, a Brazilian company, S.A. Grings SA, brought an action against a local company, RNK Investments International Inc, for infringement of its locally registered trademark Piccadilly in respect of shoes. The court ordered the seizure of the counterfeit shoes which the defendant had imported from China.
What these cases demonstrate is that in order to stem the trade in counterfeit goods in Guyana, proprietors of trademarks must first get their mark protected by local registration and then, if and when the mark has been infringed, launch their own action in the local courts (which have been for the most part of great assistance). Unfortunately, customs authorities do not have the legislative power to detain and destroy counterfeit goods. In fact, revenue officials tend to view such importation as a lucrative source of revenue for the Treasury and have not been particularly sympathetic to, or helpful in, such cases.
Apart from permitting the registration of service marks, the automatic registration of UK-registered marks locally in Part C of the register
World Intellectual Property Review e-Digest 2012 141
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