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The Cayman Islands Gazette for Intellectual Property publications, Gazette #1 was officially published on Monday September 5^th 2016.

The home page of the Gazette now boasts an Intellectual property edition “Tab”; where all users will be able to acquire future publications from the site.

Click Here for the Link to Monday’s publication. There will be no further IP publications made in the regular Gazette. The Intellectual Property Edition the Cayman Islands Gazette will only be published in electronic form and will run on alternate Mondays of the regular Gazette with the next publication date being: Monday, October 3 2016.

The General Registry of the Cayman Islands has issued Practice Note No. 01/2016, which states that starting August 1, 2016, patent and trademark annual fee payments will no longer be accepted in advance of January 1 in the year in which they fall due.

It is therefore no longer possible to pay annual fees in the 12 months preceding the expiry date for renewal of a trademark, or the year of expiry of a patent, in advance. Instead, annual fees due in 2017 must be paid on or after January 1, 2017. Annual fees due in 2018 must be paid on or after January 1, 2018, etc.

Where annual fees remain unpaid on March 31 of each year, a penalty fee will accrue. The Registry will not accept payment of the outstanding annual fee unless the applicable penalty is paid simultaneously, along with any outstanding fees (including outstanding penalty fees) due with respect to prior years.

Trademark and patent owners should review their Cayman Islands portfolios to check whether annual fee payments are paid up to date, and if not, ensure that any outstanding years are paid along with the next annual fee payment due on January 1, 2017.

In summary, from 5 September 2016 CIPPO will publish a dedicated IP Gazette for the purposes of publishing IP notices, entitled the “Cayman Islands Gazette – Intellectual Property Edition”.  It will be published every other Monday in electronic format only downloadable from www.ciipo.gov.ky and www.gov.ky.

The HSM Group opened its doors over the summer to four talented students from the Cayman Islands Education Centre (CIFEC). Dwight Lawrence, Shantell Ritch Anisha Ritch and Victoria Whittaker, joined HSM’s summer internship programme for a unique learning experience.

Each of the interns were able to gain experience in areas such as Debt Collection and Intellectual Property. Attorneys, Sarah Alison and Sophie Davies oversaw daily tasks for the students while at the firm.

HSM has worked with the CIFEC progamme since 2012 and three CIFEC graduates currently form part of our staff of fifty plus. The firm’s continued involvement in the CIFEC programme forms part of our commitment to the local community, as we continue to provide opportunities for young Caymanians to access the legal industry.

Managing Partner Huw Moses notes: “We are very pleased to have CIFEC students play an integral role in our team. We aim to train them with the skills to achieve their full potential. We appreciate the opportunity to share our expertise with them and future students who may be interested in pursuing a career in law.”