Regulations to support Bahamas launch of an IP and moveable asset registry imminent

Photo by Adam Gonzales on Unsplash

Regulations needed to update and enforce reforms to intellectual property rights in The Bahamas should be issued this week, according to a news story reporting on a speech given by Bahamas’ Attorney General Ryan Pinder KC on news site The Tribune last week.

Speaking at the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) Bahamas conference, The Tribune quotes Mr Pinder saying:

““We’re launching our new intellectual property registry for all those who have IP concerns. That’ll be a separate registry. We put the legislation in force, the regulations probably will be issued next week on the new legislation, and we’ll have a digitised platform”

The Caribbean nation will have three registries, one dealing with personal records (e.g. births, marriages, and deaths), another with company data and the third covering intellectual property and other moveable assets.

Law to create the IP registry was enacted last year in The Transactions in Movable Property Security Interests Bill, 2024.

At the end of January 2025, The Bahamas Deputy Prime Minister, Chester Cooper, said (as reported by Bahamas news site, Eyewitness News): “This legislation seeks to do one thing: open doors for Bahamians by revolutionizing access to credit and creating opportunities for growth and innovation… We are not just focusing on start-ups; established businesses with steady operations but limited cash flow also stand to benefit. They can leverage their tangible and intangible assets to access loans that will enable them to scale their operations, hire more workers, and contribute to our nation’s prosperity.”

Changing The Bahamas’ legal system to allow moveable assets to be used more easily for bank lending has been under discussion for more than 10 years now. The current government launched a massive public consultation on legislative reforms to modernise the country’s intellectual property regime at the end of 2023, and the responses to that informed the development of the new law.

A statement issued by the Bahamas’ Office of the Prime Minister in December 2023 said:

“Our Government has undertaken an extensive review of the intellectual property laws of The Bahamas and will implement new legislation that is consistent with current international best practices and will allow for an efficient and streamlined process for international and domestic protection of IP assets and creations. The legislation and regulations will provide protections for copyright, geographical indicators, integrated circuits, patents, trademarks, and new plant varieties. The new legislative framework is the subject of this public consultation.”

The proposals included the creation of a separate IP office “intended to provide the much-needed focus and attention to IP in The Bahamas,” and the accession of The Bahamas to international IP treaties, “expanding protection for Bahamian IP internationally.”