Trademark Modernization in the Bahamas
Katherine Van Deusen Hely | March 11, 2025
Katherine Hely is the founder of Caribbean IP, a law firm located in West Palm Beach, Florida. She focuses her practice on providing intellectual property services in the Caribbean region. Katherine holds legal degrees from both Vanderbilt University Law School and the Eugene Dupuch Law School in Nassau, The Bahamas, which has given her a unique perspective and helped inspire her to provide efficient and reliable IP services in a complex part of the world. With her team, Katherine handles trademark clearance, prosecution, and enforcement matters across the entire Caribbean. She is an active INTA member and regularly reports on Caribbean trademark law developments in the INTA Bulletin, WTR Daily, and CITMA Review.
On the afternoon of Tuesday, February 25, 2025, the Bahamian IPO (BIPO) made a surprise announcement that new IP laws for Trademarks, Patents, and Copyright became effective retroactively as of February 1, 2025. The announcement was made without prior notice to practitioners. Of particular note, the trademark arm of the new laws (Trade Marks Act, 2024) introduces service marks and international classification.
Importantly, however, the Bahamian government has not issued secondary implementing legislation nor new fees. The transitional provisions of the 2024 Act indicate that the prior regulations will stay in force until repealed by regulations adopted under the 2024 Act. The outdated, existing regulations may present significant challenges when paired with the 2024 Act. Until regulations are passed, the BIPO is not currently processing applications. They are however accepting applications to accord filing dates, which will then be processed once the new regulations are in place.
As part of a wider reform of the entire framework of intellectual property in The Bahamas, the Bahamian Parliament passed new trademarks legislation last year, the Trade Marks Act 2024. But the secondary legislation required for it to take effect was nowhere to be seen. The lack of implementing regulations caused concern among practitioners, particularly given the prior Trade Marks Act 2015 was never implemented. While the fear the Act would never enter into force proved unfounded, the delay in accompanying regulations is causing considerable uncertainty.
Despite the aforementioned issues, it is worth recapping that the standout change in the new law is provision for the protection of service marks, allowing many brand owners to properly protect their commercial interests in The Bahamas for the first time. The longtime workaround protection for “services” has been to file in local class 39 for paper goods and the like, or to file for goods related to the services of interest (for example filing for takeaway food or drinks if operating a restaurant). This left some brand owners feeling uneasy about the limits on the scope of their protection.
Regarding other changes, the new provisions as a whole bring trademark law in The Bahamas into line with much of the rest of the world. In addition to the introduction of service marks, the new laws move away from an antiquated classification system based on UK trademark laws from 1938, to the international classification system. The Bahamas also is expected to move from a single- to a multi-class registration system, though the final confirmation of this will come with the regulations.
Further key changes (but very much familiar ground for the international trademark practitioner) include the following:
- Provision for both certification and collective marks (currently only certification marks are possible).
- Registration terms will follow the international standard of 10 years with further 10-year terms, rather than the current 14-year renewal term.
- Paris Convention priority – although priority claims are currently recognized, they are now formally recognized in the law, providing for the usual six-month term within which to claim the important priority right.
- Definition of a ‘sign’ now explicitly provides for registration of color, three-dimensional shapes, holograms, moving images, sounds, scents, tastes and textures.
The changes to trademark laws in The Bahamas focus more on a long-needed update rather than ground-breaking innovation. Despite the current confusion, protection of service marks demonstrates a real step forward for a country that relies on tourism and other service-oriented industries. Brand owners should still be actively evaluating their needs for new trademark filings in The Bahamas, particularly for services, to ensure their trademark portfolios are robust and up-to-date.
Key Takeaways:
- Implementation of new trademarks law in The Bahamas becomes effective without warning.
- Bahamian IPO not currently processing trademark applications as a result.
- Reform to significantly modernize Bahamian trademark system, bringing it into line with much of the rest of the world.
- Service marks to be accepted in the country for the first time.