HAVANA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Cuban Industrial Property Office (OCPI) published a new set of rules on Friday with the aim of boosting trade, scientific cooperation and innovation.

The new rules -- two laws, three decrees and five resolutions -- take effect in October, providing a legal framework to guide business dealings between national and foreign companies, and provide guarantees for foreign investment.

Updated regulations are "necessary," Maria Sanchez Torres, the OCPI's director, told reporters.

The rules protect industrial processes, designs and trademarks, and as a result promote innovation, and regulate the transfer of technology, national and foreign investment, and trade in goods and services, she said.

At the same time, the rules protect against the abuse of industrial property rights, which serve to restrict trade or limit the transfer of technology.

Today, the export of biotechnological and biopharmaceutical products is one of the most profitable sectors of the Cuban economy.

"It's important to preserve the current Cuban know-how and inventions, and ensure the protection of future results that emerge from collaboration with foreign entities," said Sanchez.

According to the National Statistics Bureau, in 2016 a group of 163 Cuban patents were requested by foreign entities, 40 of these patents were requested by U.S. companies, despite Washington's trade embargo against the Caribbean island.

A month ago, the government called on Cuba's private entrepreneurs to register their trademarks and distinctive logos with the OCPI.

Experts from LEX S.A., a Cuban law firm specializing in industrial property, told reporters that the boom in self-employment has led to increasing numbers of business owners registering their trademarks.