Patents Aruba has its own Patent Act and grants patents for the Aruban jurisdiction via the Patent Section of the Bureau of Intellectual Property. A patent may be transferred or licensed, having effect to third parties only after annotations thereof at the Bureau. Compulsory licensing is possible if the patent after three years of its grant is not properly used in Aruba. Inventions made by an employee within the scope of his employment normally belong to his employer. Trademarks Trade and Service Marks can be registered in all classes of the International Classification established by the Nice Union, to which Aruba is a party.
Registered trademarks are effective as of the date of filing.
Trademark owners, not domiciled in Aruba are required to submit their application through a Trademark Agent authorized by the Bureau. Although protection of a trademark or commercial name might be derived by first use in Aruba, it is strongly recommended to have same registered for protection. International Registration is not possible at the moment because of granted temporary postponement of the applicability of the Madrid Arrangement by the International Bureau in Geneva, in order to have adequate executing rules established. The new Act will provide for said rules. There is no special law governing protection of industrial designs besides those of the Copyright Act and the Bern Convention.