IPTango

Friday, 16 July 2010

Another one for Brazil – this time is not a goal

Patricia Covarrubia July 16, 2010 No comments:

From the Brazil Industrial Property Office (INPI) we take notice of Brazil successfully registering its seventh Geographical Indication (GI). On the 13th of July 2010, the name ‘Pinto Bandeira’ has been officially registered for red, white and sparkling wines. The name Pinto Bandeira is a geographical area located in the region of Bento Gonçalves.

This GI joins six other GIs granted by the Brazilian INPI: Região do Cerrado Mineiro (for coffee), Vale dos Vinhedos (for red, white and sparkling wine), Pampa Gaúcho da Campanha Meridional (for beef and its derivatives), Paraty (for rum and brandy), Vale do Submédio São Francisco (for mango and table grapes), and Vale do Sinos (for finished leather). Also last week we informed you of three more Brazilian GI applications - for decorative stones.

Chile: software piracy indicates unpaid taxes

Patricia Covarrubia July 15, 2010 No comments:

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), in 2009 Chile lost $ 315 million for unpaid taxes due to pirated software. A spokesman from Business Software Alliance (BSA) expressed concern on this issue [I wonder if the government also is concerned, at the end, it is the one that is losing the revenue -unpaid tax, don’t you agree?].

Rodrigo Bulnes, BSA representative in Chile, said: "These losses reflect a worrying situation, it has to do with the little respect we have in Chile for the intellectual property”. He also mentioned that without prejudice to the institutional developments, like the reform of the Intellectual Property Act (see early post), piracy affects the country's image, discouraging innovation and harming the installation of foreign companies, due to the low level of protection for intellectual property rights.

Click here for an early post regarding a study on the rate of illegal software in Latin America.

Chile: Ley sobre la neutralidad de la Red

Gilberto Macias (@gmaciasb) July 15, 2010 No comments:

La Cámara de Diputados Chilena aprobó modificar la ley de Telecomunicaciones introduciendo el término de neutralidad de red a la normativa, siendo el primer país en el mundo que legisla al respecto. El proyecto aprobado se presentó en 2007.

La citada modificación prohíbe a los proveedores de Internet “interferir, discriminar o entorpecer de cualquier forma los contenidos, aplicaciones o servicios”. Además, introduce el control parental, a través del cual es el usuario quien puede solicitar se bloqueen ciertos contenidos.

Según el ministro de Transportes, Felipe Morandé, las modificaciones buscan “transparentar los servicios de Internet y proteger al usuario".

En lo personal me parece un buen avance y esperamos que pronto otros países sigan el ejemplo chileno.

Más información aquí y haquí.

If infringement can recur, an injunction is not just theoretical

Jeremy July 14, 2010 No comments:

In "Merchants should know the origin of the products they sell", Jorge Otamendi (G Breuer, Buenos Aires) writes for World Trademark Review on Argentina's recent Court of Appeals ruling earlier this year in The Polo/Lauren Company LP v Bustos (Case 608/05, 18 February 2010). In brief, Polo/Lauren seized from Bustos 165 counterfeit items which bore its POLO and RALPH LAUREN marks, then sued Bustos for trade mark infringement, seeking a permanent injunction and damages.

Bustos maintained that the injunction was of academic interest only, since he had ceased to use the marks. The Court of Appeals rejected this argument, since the fact he had stopped using them didn't mean that there was no chance of him doing so again in the future. Bustos also argued that it was actually he who was the victim: he had acted in good faith and had himself been defrauded by the goods' supplier, on which basis he should not have to pay damages. The Court of Appeals was not impressed, saying:

“it was not credible that the defendant had been the victim of deceit since, in certain activities and in certain circumstances, merchants know, or ought to know, the origin of the products and the legitimacy of the marks that they use.”

You can read this note in full here.

Chile IP reform in focus

Jeremy July 12, 2010 No comments:

"Chile Breaks New Ground in Regulating IP Liability" is the title of an article by Rodrigo Lavados Mackenzie (Sargent & Krahn) in issue 3 of this year's easy-read WIPO Magazine. This article explains how, in early May, following three years of discussion and debate, the Chilean Parliament approved Intellectual Property Law No. 20 435 (amending Law No. 17.336), thus becoming the first country in Latin America to regulate the liability of Internet Service Providers (ISPs). This provision was in fulfilment of Chile's Free Trade Agreement with the United States. The article also deals with the new law's provisions on anti-piracy, exceptions to infringement, collecting societies and works made for hire.

Anti-circumvention provision in Brazil Amended Copyright Law

Aurelio Lopez-Tarruella Martinez July 10, 2010 No comments:

Brazil has recently amended its copyright law. The text can be found in Portuguese here. In a recent post, Canadian Professor Michael Geist has underlined the adequacy of the amendment introduced by the Brazilian legislator in relation to anti-circumvention activities. According to Geist: "[the amended Law] permits circumvention for fair dealing and public domain purposes, [and] it establishes equivalent penalties for hindering or preventing the users from exercising their fair dealing rights. This amendement is similar to the doctrine sustained by the Cadanian Supreme Court in "Theberge" Case.

Geist provides a translation to English of the concerned provision:
"Art. 107. The same sanction applies, without prejudice to other sanctions set forth by law, to whom, through whatever means:

a) hinders or prevents the uses allowed by arts. 46, 47 and 48 of this Act [which addresses limitations to copyright including fair dealing]; or

b) hinders or prevents the free use of works, broadcast transmissions and phonograms which have fallen into the public domain".

México: Publicación de la Ley Federal de Protección de Datos Personales.

Gilberto Macias (@gmaciasb) July 08, 2010 No comments:

Nos informa Paulina Rius que se acaba de publicar el Decreto por el que se expide la Ley Federal de Protección de Datos Personales en Posesión de los Particulares.

Dicho decreto reforma los artículos 3, fracciones II y VII, y 33, así como la denominación del Capítulo II, del Título Segundo, de la Ley Federal de Transparencia y Acceso a la Información Pública Gubernamental.

Como señalamos anteriormente , esta ley coloca a México a la vanguardia en la protección de derechos de tercera generación, y lo pone a la altura de una democracia moderna.

Fly like a bird or sink like a stone - new names for Geographical Indications

Patricia Covarrubia July 07, 2010 No comments:

On June 23, three applications of Geographical Indication (GI), in the form of Designation of Origin (DO), were deposited at the Brazil Industrial Property Office (INPI). The three names are: ‘Região Pedra Carijó-Paduana’; ‘Região Pedra Madeira-Paduana’; and, ‘Região Pedra Cinza-Paduana’. Product description or class for all three is: stones. These types of rocks claim to have a specific characteristic due to the region – Northwest Fluminense.

The stones are used for coating landscape projects, driveways & decorative pavement. They are currently exported to markets inside and outside of South America, i.e. United States, Europe and Mexico.

Brazilian Legislation:
Regulating rights and obligations relating to industrial property: Federal Law No. 9279 of May 14, 1996
Disposicion regarding the forms for submission of application for registration of geographical indications: Normative Act No. 134of April 15, 1997
Conditions for the registration of geographical indications: Resolution No. 075 of 28 November 2000.

Taking into consideration the title of today’s, will the GI names fly like a bird or sink like a stone? any ideas?

México: se aprueba reforma para que la piratería se persiga de oficio

Aurelio Lopez-Tarruella Martinez July 06, 2010 No comments:

Desde la Universidad de Nuevo León, Juan Angel Garza Vité nos cuenta que el lunes 28 de junio se publicó en México, en el Diario Oficial de la Federación, el Decreto que reforman los artículos 429 del Código Penal Federal y 223 Bis de la Ley de la Propiedad Industrial, a fin de que la piratería se persiga de oficio, ya que hay que recordar que anteriormente se debía presentar una querella ante la Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) para que ésta pudiera incautar la mercancía apócrifa.

Más información aquí.

México: Golpe al contrabando de medicamentos apócrifos

Gilberto Macias (@gmaciasb) July 05, 2010 No comments:

La Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) a través de la Subprocuraduría de Investigación Especializada en Delitos Federales en el combate a los delitos de propiedad industrial, derechos de autor y contrabando, llevo a cabo un operativo conjunto con la Comisión Federal para la Protección contra Riesgos Sanitarios (COFEPRIS) y el IMPI en la Ciudad de Veracruz.

El operativo, realizado tras las acciones realizadas por la COFEPRIS y el IMPI, se basó en las diversas actas levantadas por violación a la Ley General de Salud y por "marca pirata".

Entre los medicamentos falsificados asegurados en los locales comerciales intervenidos se encuentran: cialis, viagra y condones etiquetados en idioma extranjero, así como del sector salud, fraccionados, caducos, controlados y en mal estado.

Con acciones como ésta, la PGR participa en la estrategia implementada entre el sector industrial y las instituciones gubernamentales con el objetivo primordial de proteger los derechos de autor y la propiedad industrial para evitar que sean violentados y salvaguardar la economía formal.

Más información aquí.