Latvia investment immigration focuses on Latvian law:
In 1993, Latvia joined the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and thereafter adopted most international treaties for the protection of intellectual property: the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, the Madrid Protocol, the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, and the Trademark Law Treaty. Latvia became a member of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights in 1993 and joined the WorldWay Organization in February 1999.
Patents and trademarks can be granted based on applications submitted by investors to the Latvian Patent Office. This office is also responsible for maintaining the registration of industrial designs.
Regarding industrial designs, the Industrial Design Protection Law explicitly states that if an industrial design is novel and has a unique nature, legal protection rights will be granted. Once a design is registered, the owner has exclusive rights to use it, sell it, publish it, or import, export, or store it for these purposes. The designer, as the author of the design, holds inalienable rights. The design patent is valid for five years. After the validity period expires, the patent can be extended for five years, but the maximum exclusive period is twenty-five years.
The Copyright Law applies to scientific works, literature, music, and crafts, regardless of their purpose and characteristics, or their mode of expression, whether completed or not. Moreover, derivative works can also obtain copyright, such as translations and adaptations, annotations, summaries, outlines, and comments. Other compilations can also obtain copyright, such as encyclopedias and maps, as well as databases and other edited works, which can trigger creativity through the selection and arrangement of these materials. To obtain copyright, crafts, ideas, and concepts must be disclosed in some manner. The author of the craft holds inalienable rights. Copyright is valid during the author's lifetime and continues for 70 years after their death. Copyright valid for 70 years can also be granted to directors of audiovisual works, screenplay authors, playwrights, and composers after the last deceased mentioned. If these works are published under a pseudonym or anonymously, copyright can be held for a protection period of 70 years after their first publication. Copyright expires unless inferred from the author's death; if the work has not been published according to legal requirements within 70 years, anyone can obtain a copyright for 25 years, provided that the previous author's copyright has expired and the work has not been published according to legal requirements.
Similar copyright rights have a validity period of 50 years, starting from the date of the first performance or public presentation. Equivalent rights can be granted to producers of sound recordings and broadcasting organizations, starting from the date of the first public broadcast.
