New IP Regimes For The Cayman Islands

Design Rights

The Design Rights Registration Law, 2016 (the "Design Rights Law") will come into force in the Cayman Islands on 1 August 2017. The Design Rights Law will provide for existing registered UK and EU design rights to be registered in, and extended to, the Cayman Islands.

The registration of a UK or EU design right in the Cayman Islands will afford the owner of the right all equivalent rights and remedies allowed in the UK or EU in respect of such design right.

The Cayman Islands does not currently have a registrar of origin for design rights, and the Design Rights Law does not enable design rights to be registered anew in the Cayman Islands.

The new design rights regime supplements other forms of IP protection in the Cayman Islands, such as The Copyright (Cayman Islands) Order, 2015 and the Copyright (Cayman Islands) (Amendment) Order, 2016, which came into force on 30 June 2016 and extend certain provisions of the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents