Messina International

Founder, Director and Managing Partner

Ana Messina is Director and Managing Partner of Messina International. A specialized lawyer in Intellectual Property with an experience and practice of over 35 years that positions her as one of the pioneers in the field of Intellectual Property in the Dominican Republic.

As consultant to the Executive Branch (1994-2000), Ana served as a link between the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Dominican State, during the process of adapting national Intellectual Property legislation to the Agreement on Aspects of the Intellectual Property Rights related to Commerce (TRIPS), which in the year 2000 resulted in the creation of the Industrial Property Law No. 20-00, thus abolishing Laws No. 4994 on Patents of Invention dated 1911, and No. 1450 on Trademarks dated 1993, hence establishing the National Office of Industrial Property (ONAPI). Similarly, she advised the Dominican State on the multilateral free trade agreement of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) (1994), and again on the Trademark Law Treaty (TLT) (2011).

Her active participation and collaboration in the development of public policies allowed her to promote and defend the Compulsory Patent Licenses, as a mechanism to face the crisis in the health sector in the Dominican Republic.

Ana Messina has been Director and Managing Partner of 3 leading firms in the field of Intellectual Property in the Dominican Republic, recognized by international directories such as Chambers & Partners, The Legal 500, and Latin Lawyer, to name a few.

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American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) Dominican Association of Intellectual Property (ADOPI) – Founding member (1998) and Former President of the Association International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI) Pharmaceutical Trade Marks Group (PTMG) Inter-American Association of Intellectual Property (ASIPI) International Trademark Association (INTA)

Ana received her Bachelor of Laws from Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña (UNPHU) in 1985; she also studied at University of Georgetown, USA in 1982, the Sorbonne University, Paris in 1979; and the Fundación Getulio Vargas (FGV), Brazil in 2004.