by William Ysaguirre (Freelance Writer)

BELIZE CITY, Mon. June 23, 2025

The Belize Intellectual Property Office (BELIPO) amended the trademarks registration rules to forbid any political party symbols from being registered as trademarks by Statutory Instrument No. 90, which was issued last Thursday, June 19.   

BELIPO sought to safeguard the country’s political heritage and protect the integrity of the democratic process by implementing this legal reform, in partnership with the Attorney General’s Ministry by the authority of section 71 of the Trademarks Act.

The amendment closed a loophole that previously existed in our legal framework, and the Registrar of Intellectual Property is now barred from accepting trademark applications which include political party symbols.

Before this amendment, persons or societies, who were in no way affiliated with a political party, might have undermined a political party’s identity and confused voters, by registering a party’s symbol, name, or emblem as a trademark for commercial or other purposes. This situation was further complicated by a political party’s legal status, since the Companies Act does not recognize political parties as legal entities, nor are they recognized by any other law, so a political party could not directly register its own logo or symbol as a trademark.

This opened the possibility for unscrupulous persons or organizations to register the symbols of a political party, and to offer services such as political consulting, fundraising, or public engagement under the guise of affiliation to the party in question.

The new rules define a “political party symbol” as any insignia, emblem, flag, seal, logo, design, or name, which a political party has used for the past 10 ten years or more, where that party has nominated candidates for elections under the Representation of the People Act or other relevant law.

The Attorney General’s Ministry says the reform strengthens the principle that political identity is not a private asset to be commercialized, but rather a vital part of Belize’s democratic fabric, and in no way interferes with the lawful use of business trademarks.

Both BELIPO and the Attorney General are committed to fostering a modern, fair, and principled intellectual property system to protect the public interest and the values which form the basis for Belize’s democracy.

The public may read the Statutory Instrument No. 90 in its entirety at the Ministry’s website: https://agm.gov.bz.