Peru Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in Peru, prepared by at U.S. Embassies worldwide by Commerce Department, State Department and other U.S. agencies’ professionals.
Select Country Guide
Protecting Intellectual Property
Last published date:

International IP Treaties: Peru is a signatory of the World Intellectual Property Organization Treaty and the 1996 Interpretation and Phonograms Treaty. The PTPA’s chapter on Intellectual Property (IP) includes aspects such as brands, geographical indications, internet domain names, innovation, and technological development. It also seeks to protect the moral and economic rights of the IP owners. The aspects covered in the chapter were incorporated into national legislation through Law No. 29316 on January 14th, 2009. However, Peru has remained on the U.S. Trade Representative’s annual Section 301 Report’s “Watch List” since 1992 because of continued high piracy rates, inadequate enforcement against trademark counterfeiting and falsified products, and inadequate penalties for IP violations that fail to deter infringing acts.

The Andean Community Law covers Peru’s intellectual property rights (IPR) through several legal decisions.  Among them: Decision 486, which establishes the common provisions on Industrial Property; Decision 876, which establishes a Common Regime for National Brands; Decision 351, which establishes a Common Regime for Copyright and Related Rights; Decision 345, which establishes a Common Regime for Protecting Breeders’ Rights; and Decision 391 that establishes a Common Regime for Accessing Genetic Resources and the National Copyright Law (Legislative Decree 1391). 

Peruvian law provides the same protections for U.S. companies as for Peruvian companies in all IPR categories under the PTPA and other international commitments, such as the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS). Moreover, Peru is a member of the Berne and Brussels Convention; Budapest Treaty; Lisbon Agreement; Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances; Marrakesh Treaty; Strasbourg Agreement; Nice Agreement; Paris Convention; Patent Cooperation Treaty; Patent Prosecution Highway Program (Global PPH); Phonograms Convention; Rome Convention; Singapore Treaty; Trademark Law Treaty; UPOV Convention; WIPO Convention; WIPO Copyright Treaty; and WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty.

National IP Authorities 

The National Institute for the Defense of Free Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property (INDECOPI) is responsible for protecting IPR, administering patent, trademark, and copyright registrations, and handling administrative enforcement cases. In addition to INDECOPI, IPR enforcement also involves other GOP agencies and offices, such as the Peruvian National Police (PNP), the Tax and Customs Authority (SUNAT), the Ministry of Production (PRODUCE), the Judiciary, and the Ministry of Health’s (MINSA) Directorate General for Medicines (DIGEMID), and the Office of the Attorney General (Fiscalía). Fiscalía has specialized IPR prosecutors’ offices that solely focus on IPR crimes. In addition, the Peruvian Customs Service (Aduanas) works with INDECOPI to address counterfeit activity. INDECOPI is entitled to grant preliminary injunctions (medidas cautelares) to seize infringing goods when Customs alerts the right holders.

IP Protection and Enforcement

Peru remained on the Watch List in 2025 due to the long-standing implementation issues with specific IP provisions of the PTPA, particularly with respect to establishing statutory damages for copyright infringement and trademark counterfeiting, and notice-and-takedown and safe harbor system for Internet service providers. Concerning IP enforcement, Peruvian authorities have taken actions around the country against counterfeit medicines, apparel, and auto parts. U.S. government personnel engage with GOP authorities in training programs targeted at national police officers, customs officials, prosecutors, and judges to address the importance and value of protection IP rights. INDECOPI imposes an average of 250 fines per year for the counterfeiting of products with registered trademarks and, in coordination with SUNAT, seizes counterfeit merchandise in customs warehouses worth more than 50 million Peruvian soles ($13.5 million) each year.

Counterfeit and pirated goods are a major problem nationwide. For this reason, country border measures are established to protect and enforce copyrights and trademarks. These measures may be initiated ex parte or ex officio through SUNAT. This mechanism allows the right holder to register with SUNAT and request the suspension of an importation process if the goods are presumed to be pirate or have fake or confusingly similar trademarks. Such requests are filed so that INDECOPI may conduct an inspection of the goods and seize them if they infringe the law.

Peru Trademark Registration

  • Peru is a first-to-file jurisdiction. To receive protection, trademarks must be registered with INDECOPI. In Peru, trademarks can be a word, figurative design, combination of words and designs, 3D design, or a slogan (“lema comercial”). The right to use a trademark is limited to the exact depiction as filed and registered. Collective trademarks, certification marks, and trade names of businesses are also registrable with INDECOPI.

Follow these steps to register a trademark in Peru:

  • Ensure that your mark complies with Andean Community Decision No. 486, the Common Regime of Industrial Property that protects trademarks, patents and other forms of intangible property in the Andean Community member countries. The main restrictions are:

-  The mark shall not consist solely of shapes, signs, or statements;

-  The mark shall not consist of a color in isolation, without any demarcation to give it a specific shape;

-  The mark shall not contain a protected appellation of origin for wines and spirits or consist of a national or foreign geographical indication liable to cause confusion;

-  The mark shall not reproduce, imitate or include the denomination of a plant variety protected in a member country or abroad.

  • Classify your good and/or service according to Nice International Classification. This is a system used to classify goods and services for registering marks. Classes 1 to 34 include goods, and classes 35 to 45 include services.
  • Search for existing distinctive signs that might result in an opposition of your application. This is an optional step. INDECOPI has a database where applicants can conduct free phonetic searches and search trademarks by holder/applicant. BuscaTuMarca - Indecopi Perú Costs for professional search services vary.   
  • Create an account to use the INDECOPI online filing services.   
  • Complete the application form online and attach a reproduction of your mark.
  • Pay the registration fee (approximately $140) for each classification of products and/or services.  For information on proper classification, INDECOPI provides the following online tool – PeruaNIZAdo.
  •  

After submission, the trademark will be published in the INDECOPI IP Gazette for a period of 30 business days.  Third parties have this period to present an opposition to registration. Read more about the opposition process at Oposición a registro de marca – Indecopi Perú.

After the publication period, the application will be evaluated by the Directorate of Distinctive Signs who will notify you of the outcome. The registration process without opposition takes about 45 business days.  Decisions on opposition are generally issued within 180 business days.

Peru is a contracting party of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. According to this convention, an applicant from one contracting party can use its first filing date, in one of the contracting parties as the effective filing date in another contracting party if the applicant files a subsequent application within six months from the first filing. As of 2025, Peru is not a member of the Madrid International Trademark System.

Visit Stopfakes IPR Toolkits for background information, country snapshots and toolkits for U.S. companies in specific international markets.

In any foreign market, U.S. companies should consider several general principles in any foreign market to protect their intellectual property effectively. For background on these principles, please refer to the following article on Protecting Intellectual Property and Stopfakes.gov for more resources.

 

For more information on Intellectual Property in Peru, contact:

×

Global Business Navigator Chatbot Beta

Welcome to the Global Business Navigator, an artificial intelligence (AI) Chatbot from the International Trade Administration (ITA). This tool, currently in beta version testing, is designed to provide general information on the exporting process and the resources available to assist new and experienced U.S. exporters. The Chatbot, developed using Microsoft’s Azure AI services, is trained on ITA’s export-related content and aims to quickly get users the information they need. The Chatbot is intended to make the benefits of exporting more accessible by understanding non-expert language, idiomatic expressions, and foreign languages.

Limitations

As a beta product, the Chatbot is currently being tested and its responses may occasionally produce inaccurate or incomplete information. The Chatbot is trained to decline out of scope or inappropriate requests. The Chatbot’s knowledge is limited to the public information on the Export Solutions web pages of Trade.gov, which covers a wide range of topics on exporting. While it cannot provide responses specific to a company’s product or a specific foreign market, its reference pages will guide you to other relevant government resources and market research. Always double-check the Chatbot’s responses using the provided references or by visiting the Export Solutions web pages on Trade.gov. Do not use its responses as legal or professional advice. Inaccurate advice from the Chatbot would not be a defense to violating any export rules or regulations.

Privacy

The Chatbot does not collect information about users and does not use the contents of users’ chat history to learn new information. All feedback is anonymous. Please do not enter personally identifiable information (PII), sensitive, or proprietary information into the Chatbot. Your conversations will not be connected to other interactions or accounts with ITA. Conversations with the Chatbot may be reviewed to help ITA improve the tool and address harmful, illegal, or otherwise inappropriate questions.

Translation

The Chatbot supports a wide range of languages. Because the Chatbot is trained in English and responses are translated, you should verify the translation. For example, the Chatbot may have difficulty with acronyms, abbreviations, and nuances in a language other than English.

Privacy Program | Information Quality Guidelines | Accessibility