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The Decree-Law 103 "On Trademarks and Trade Names", published by the Cuban regime in the , grants the State greater powers to cancel, annul, or review trademarks and trade name registrations,
According to the regulations, the State will be able to cancel, annul, or revise trademarks and trade names, and will regulate in detail the licenses, assignments, and transfers of these rights, while also overseeing commercial disputes and the use of distinctive signs.
The decree was approved by the Council of State on February 14, 2025 and repeals the regulations that have been in effect for over 25 years regarding industrial property.
The regulation centralizes all procedures in the Cuban Office of Industrial Property (OCPI): “The application, the grant, and other acts or legal transactions involving these rights are registered at the Cuban Office of Industrial Property,” states Article 1.2.
It also expands the definition of a trademark to include words, letters, numbers, figurative elements, colors, product shapes, packaging, wrappers, and sounds. It emphasizes that olfactory and taste marks are expressly excluded.
The "trade name" is defined as "a sign or combination of signs capable of representation, that identifies natural and legal persons in the exercise of their economic activity."
Individuals without a real and effective residence or establishment in Cuba are required to be represented by an official industrial property agent for any procedures before the OCPI.
The context of the new law is significant: since 2021, Cuba has legalizedprivate MIPYMES on the island, which has increased the number of non-state economic actors in need of protecting their brands and trade names, a reality that the framework from 1999 did not adequately address.
The regulation also adheres to Cuba's international commitments as part of the Paris Agreement, the Madrid Protocol, the Nice Agreement, the Vienna Convention, and the TRIPS Agreement on trade-related intellectual property rights.
Although the expansion of the private sector generated a real demand for regulatory updates, the new decree simultaneously reinforces state control over the registration and management of business assets by concentrating all authority in the OCPI and broadening the grounds for administrative intervention regarding industrial property rights, in a country where self-employed workers were already facing brand registration obligations under the previous framework.
The publication was signed by Juan Esteban Lazo Hernández, president of the National Assembly of People's Power, in his capacity as president of the Council of State.
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