Peru: toys that play without a mark

Christmas time appears to be a good moment for the National Institute for the Defence of Competition and Protection of Intellectual Property (INDECOPI) to launch a security check campaign. The institution is working on the street by doing inspections on different shops, specifically those that sell toys. The objective is to check the marks and labelling of these products. The mark is the one needed to identify the product and the latter, involves a sanitary authorisation.

This campaign is a clear reminder of what a mark signifies to consumers. Later on we have been absorbed by so many advertisers that marks have become a social status, a style of living, a representation of what we want to be or are. However, we must not put aside the principal function of a mark, that of origin. While I do agree that today’s function of a mark is more than origin and quality, I cannot stress enough the importance of recognising that a mark tells us that the product comes from a particular manufacturer.

That said, the INDECOPI rightly reports that with a mark, consumers indentify the importer, or manufacturer, or the responsible for the commercialisation of the product and so, the responsible, if a query and/or claim is brought.

Those toys that are found without a mark or labels, can be fined up to 1 million 65 thousand Peruvian Nuevos Soles (approx. 366 thousand American dollars)

To watch the INDECOPI working in this operation click here