Concerning regional patent systems, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela
belong to the Andean Community, which implemented the Cartagena
agreement. This allows for a common industrial property system under
Decision 344, in force from 1994, but to my knowledge is not yet
producing any documents.
As regards access to the documents, the Chilean office has internal
databases going back to 1968 for some patents, but I don't know if they
provide access. I believe that the Tulsa database was including VE at
one time, although this obviously only includes patents in the oil
exploration area.
There is a CD-ROM in the ESPACE series from the EPO, called DOPALES,
which purports to include documents from [amongst others] Chile, Ecuador
and Venezuela, but there have been considerable difficulties in getting
the data and I'm not clear whether there are plans to carry on with it
beyond the first stage (I understand there was some enthusiasm around
the 500th anniversary of 1492, but it may have died since then!).
The British Library apparently takes the Colombian official gazette, but
nothing is listed for Chile or Ecuador, and they haven't had the
Venezuelan bulletin since 1968.
Hope this helps,
-- Stephen Adams Magister Ltd. - Patents Documentation Consultancy 62 Norton Road, Reading, RG1 3QJ, GB Tel/fax: +44 (0)118 926 7981 e-mail: stevea@magister.co.ukRegistered in England and Wales. Company No. 3407685 Registered address : Canada House, 272 Field End Road, Eastcote, Ruislip, Middlesex HA4 9NA.