Here’s Why Apple Loves to File Trademarks in Jamaica
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It’s been extensively reported that Apple, like certain savvy businessmen, goes to great lengths to cut down its tax bill, which is why its operations in the tax haven of Ireland continue to grow each year.
Another island nation that Cupertino has an apparent soft spot for is Jamaica– home to reggae, Usain Bolt, and opaque, hard-to-access trademark databases. Apple has, in fact, been lodging its trademark filings in Jamaica for years, according to a Quartz report. The company routinely files trademark applications there for dozens of marquee products– such as the Apple Watch, Siri, macOS, among others– months before their equivalent trademarks are lodged in the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Six months, to be exact.
Apple is doing so to exploit section 44(d) of the US Trademark Act, which gives priority claim to trademarks that have been filed in foreign countries, as long as they are also filed in the USPTO within six months. That priority claim is important, explains trademark attorney Roberto Ledesma, because it helps companies establish trademark rights before competitors. This US trademark provision effectively allows Apple to keep a trademark claim squirreled away in a far-flung nation for six months before it goes to the USPTO, which can be a significant period of time for tech companies facing cutthroat competition.
Jamaica has become a favored locale for tech giants with trademarks that need filing and hiding because of the Jamaica Intellectual Property Office’s database is notoriously difficult to search. To locate a filing, someone needs to physically go to the Kingston office and rifle through its database. You can also request that the office perform the search for you, but you’re required to have a Jamaican address to receive the results, which have a lengthy, three-week turnaround. The Jamaica Intellectual Property Office currently has no plans to digitize and upload its database online.
For companies such as Apple that jealously guard their secrets, Jamaica offers a perfect haven to protect their product plans from the prying eyes of competitors for an extra half-year. Apple isn’t the only tech company that has availed itself of this legal workaround. Google, Microsoft, and Amazon have all filed trademarks in obscure trademark offices around the globe as well, but Apple apparently does this far more frequently. According to data pulled from the USPTO by Quartz, Apple has filed 275 marks in Jamaica since 2010, whereas Google takes second place with 15.
