Caribbean Netherlands Patent Guide

Registration
Following the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles on 10 October 2010 the islands of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba (known collectively as the Caribbean Netherlands) became special municipalities of the Netherlands.

The Caribbean Netherlands do not have their own patent law and it is not possible to register a patent. The only way to obtain protection for a patent is by filing either a European patent application with the Netherlands Patent Office, a department of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, pursuant to the Kingdoms Patent Act or an International application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) which is followed by entry into the European Phase of the application pursuant to the European Patent Convention. Registration of a patent via either of these two routes automatically provides protection in the Caribbean Netherlands.