U.S. and El Salvador sign agreement to accelerate the granting of patent applications

The United States and El Salvador have taken an important step to boost innovation and protect intellectual property with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and El Salvador’s Centro Nacional de Registros (CNR). This new agreement introduces an expedited process that allows eligible patent applicants to quickly obtain a patent in El Salvador by taking advantage of a patent already granted by the USPTO.

The agreement to implement a new collaborative initiative to accelerate the granting of patent applications (Accelerated Patent Grant; APG) was signed remotely by Kathi Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and Camilo Trigueros, Executive Director of the Centro Nacional de Registros de El Salvador (CNR).

The Executive Director of the CNR, Camilo Trigueros, said that “This is a historic day for the CNR, to have the presence of Mr. Ambassador of the United States in El Salvador, William Duncan and sign a memorandum of understanding that will boost technological innovation and economic development through the acceleration in the granting of patents”.

Ambassador William Duncan and CNR Executive Director Trigueros signed this tuesday, august 20 at the premises of the salvadoran institution. During the signing, the Ambassador acknowledged that the APG initiative reduces the administrative burden for local patent offices. “This will allow companies to secure their intellectual property rights more quickly and reduce delays in the commercialization of new innovations”, he said.

The Executive Director of the CNR, Camilo Trigueros, said that “This is a historic day for the CNR, to have the presence of the US Ambassador to El Salvador, William Duncan, and to sign a memorandum of understanding that will boost technological innovation and economic development by accelerating the granting of patents”.

Under the Accelerated Patent Granting process, an eligible patent applicant who has received a U.S. patent from the USPTO may request that the NRC grant a corresponding patent in El Salvador at any time during prosecution and subject to El Salvador’s patent laws.