IPTango

Friday, 6 January 2012

Not just a trout anymore: organising the trade for better quality and better economic results – the story of a collective mark

Patricia Covarrubia January 06, 2012 No comments:

During the international convention EXPOTRUCHA that took effect December 2011, Sierra Exportadora (SIEX) an institution leader in promoting export production in the Andean region of Peru, announced that it has been helping five medium-sized enterprises that produce trout in several regions of the Peruvian mountains to join them under the collective mark ‘Andean trout’. SIEX gives to this group of enterprises business management advice and searches for markets, for which the collective mark is a tool of first importance. It also added that under the collective mark it is enforced good aquaculture practices and compliance with standards of size, quality and volume production.

The Minister of Production, Jose Urquizo Maggia, congratulated SIEX for the promotion of the productive chain of the trout and for aiming to strengthening medium and small enterprises (SMEs) in the area.

According to SIEX the production and exports of trout will redouble from 350 to 700
tons bimonthly from October 2012, with which achieved a sales value of USD$ 3.5 million per season. moreover, SIEX mentioned that the intention is to set an example to many SMEs producing informal trout that exist across the mountains and to incentive them to join the collective mark. Moreover it mentioned that 70% of domestic trout farmers are informal, and this makes very difficult for them to receive financial support and the necessary certifications required on the trade.

New Year new blog =)

Patricia Covarrubia January 05, 2012 No comments:

The University of Buckingham in its Daily Mail writes the following:

Dr Patricia Covarrubia [ok tangueros, you can call me Patricia] had the inspiration to start another blog-- this one focusing on indigenous rights and intellectual property issues that often arise in issues of indigenous rights. Dr Covarrubia got this idea following on from the Roundtable Conference on The Emerging Landscape of Indigenous Rights. This conference took place on 4 October 2011, at the University of Buckingham and was an event of the Centre for Multi-Cultural Research on Law and the Family. Dr Sarah Sargent was instrumental in conceiving the idea for the conference and in arranging a panel of international speakers. The speakers addressed a wide range of issues through which indigenous rights might be involved, including international economic and development law, cultural heritage, family law, land rights and international treaty law, as well as intellectual property. The new blog builds on the success of and the interest generated from the October 2011 conference.

Dr Covarrubia and Dr Sargent co-manage the new blog, TK Totem. http://tktotem.blogspot.com/ The blog focuses on indigenous rights, and issues such as traditional knowledge, intellectual property, land rights and human rights. The blog is important as a means of communicating about contemporary indigenous issues, and reaching a worldwide audience. Many issues do not receive other than local attention, and it can be difficult for instance to learn about issues occurring in Central and South America, Asia, and Africa, where issues do not receive a great deal of media attention. Additionally, the blog is a means of communicating with researchers and scholars around the world.

[tha's me! after x-mas]

You can pay a visit to the blog [of course free of charge] here. Comments and subscriptions are more than welcome.

A new resolution or just the same old news

Patricia Covarrubia January 05, 2012 No comments:

In different newspaper and from different countries I was reading similar information regarding the losses that the software industry suffered for piracy.

In Peru for instance, I read that more than USD $ 29 million was thought to be lost in the software industry for piracy, and this sum was only during the month of December -- this estimates were from no other than the Business Software Alliance (BSA), a global organization leading the defence of copyright. According to Piero Calderon, Proxy at BSA in Peru, “The purchase of pirated product at Christmas time has increased, since technology is a very common gift”. The information continues to reveal that the latest study made by International Data Corporation (IDC) in Peru in 2010 the software piracy reached 68%, which meant losses of USD $ 176 million -- the global average in Latin America was 64%.

I move now to another Andean country, my neighbour Colombia. Montserrat Guitart, proxy at BSA in Colombia and Argentina elaborates more in this issue saying that "The seriousness of this behaviour is that it affects all society because it encourages illegal trade, smuggling, counterfeiting and tax revenues are lost.” Then again looking at the IDC, in Colombia in 2010 software piracy reached USD $272 million representing 54% of the programs using during the said year. It is good to know that in 2010 Colombia managed to be one number down in the rate of piracy products.

Will this be news for New Year’s resolution? To respect the rights of copyright by buying legal software. Can this one be tougher than the most famous resolution of losing weight?

Colombia: lost in translation?

Patricia Covarrubia January 05, 2012 No comments:

The Colombian Superintendence of Industry and Commerce informed that even though the (10th) tenth edition of the Nice Classification shall start being applied on the 1st January 2012, Colombia will not be applying it. The reason being, according to the Superintendence, there does not exist yet an official translation to Spanish language of the (10th) edition at WIPO. However, the statement follows: once this happens [the translation] the Superintendence will inform in its webpage and will instruct from when applications to register trade marks will start to be filed with the new edition.

A decade ago: [Oh dear! I sound old now]
In 2002 the same situation happened but with a different outcome. At that time the Colombian Superintendence of Industry and Commerce informed in its External Circular Letter No 1 of 2002 the application of the Eight (8th) edition of the Nice Classification albeit there was not an official Spanish translation! In its Circular, at numeral 2, it explained that the Superintendence was going to use the translation provided by the Patent and Trade Mark Office of Spain. Does anybody know the reasons why this time they are not going to practice this strategy?

By the way, happy New Year everyone!!

ARGENTINA: COMPUTO DEL PLAZO DE VIGENCIA DE LAS RENOVACIONES DE MARCAS

Natalia Franco Onofre December 29, 2011 No comments:

El pasado miércoles 21 de diciembre de 2011, el Instituto Nacional de Propiedad Industrial (INPI) de Argentina notificó la Disposición No. M-1795/11, por medio de la cual modificó la práctica relativa al cómputo del plazo de vigencia de las renovaciones.

A la fecha, los diez años de vigencia de la marca cuya renovación se solicita se calculaban a partir de la fecha de concesión de la renovación.

Con la expedición de la mencionada disposición, la vigencia de las solicitudes de renovación que se radiquen a partir del 1 de enero de 2012, se computará automáticamente desde el vencimiento del registro cuya renovación se solicite, independientemente del tiempo que demore el trámite de renovación.

Argentina: ISPs taken action - really?

Patricia Covarrubia December 28, 2011 3 comments:

In the midst of several court cases for copyright infringement, the video streaming site Cuevano has been made inaccessible by Internet Service providers.
Early this month we posted some news related to two different lawsuits brought against the site – one by HBO and the other one by Turner. In the latter case, the District Court Judge issued an interim injunction requiring the blocking of three particular series. In the same line, an Internet Service Provider decided to block the ‘complete’ access to the aforementioned webpage. Therefore, customer of the ISP named Telecentro could not enter for 12 hours the cuevana website. This measure was taken only by this particular ISP since subscribers from other ISPs could access cuevana webpage.[so, what abot the interim injunction? Why only one ISP took into account this matter?] Turner's response to the problems experienced by Telecenter’s subscribers was that Turner requested ISPs to block the TNT and iSat pay-TV channels – these two channels are the ones that contain the three particular series that the court granted interim injunction for. [once again, why only one ISP?]

On a statement Turner said:

The goal of this measure is to preserve the jobs that the company generates with such [tv] productions, with 800 professionals in the country and from their offices in Buenos Aires creates, produces and distributes 49 channels to more than 35 million households throughout Latin America.

Three weeks and a bit later we learn that another ISP has blocked access to cuevano.tv., this time Iplan. According to the newspaper the reason behind this was due to a court order. [I guess that this is the same one granted to Turner, why so far apart? can anyone enlighten me on this practical procedure, please?] I wonder if this interim measure is achieving anything at all.

Source La Nacion.

Despite the international crisis, INPI sees an increase in numbers

Patricia Covarrubia December 26, 2011 No comments:

During 2011, the Brazilian Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial (INPI) report that there have been 30,617 applications for patents, against 28,052 requested in 2010. For trade marks there have been 143,435 requests (up to December the 20th) compared with 129,620 trade mark applications last year. According to INPI’s president, Mr Jorge Avila, number appears to show that despite the international crisis there has been awareness of Brazilian society about the importance of intellectual property

INPI’s aim is to promote the use of the intellectual property system as a tool of competitiveness, stimulating innovation in order to act effectively and to move forward the Brazilian technology and economy.

To further facilitate the access of the patent system, INPI is launching in 2012, the e-Patents, which will permit the filing of patent applications via Internet.

Source INPI.

Shoes and Cheese -- stinky feet?

Patricia Covarrubia December 23, 2011 No comments:

This week the Brazilian Instituto Nacional da Propiedad Industrial (INPI) announced the approval of two geographical indications: Queijo of Canastra (cheese) and calçados de Franca (footwear), both of them to be registered in the form Indication of Origin. The producers have, from now on, a period of 60 days to pay the fee required and once fulfilled, INPI will issue the said certificate.

Queijo of Canastra is a typical product from the region of Serra da Canastra, situated in Minas Gerais. It is handmade and is made out of raw milk. Produced for more than two hundred years, it is said to be related to the cheese called Serra da Estrela, Portugal, brought by immigrants. The climate, altitude, native pastures and waters of Canastra give this cheese a unique flavor: strong, medium spicy, dense and full bodied. Note that since May 2008 Queijo of Canastra became an intangible cultural heritage of Brazil, a title granted by the Institute for National Artistic and Historical Heritage (IPHAN).

Calçados de Franca...well in other words: shoes from the city of Franca. Franca is a large city in the Brazilian state of São Paulo and it is well recognised (at least by me) for its shoes industry. [OK, I need to be objective, they do also manufacture other things like furniture, vehicles, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and according to a person that is sited next to me – men’s basketball, and Mogiana coffee -- but what can I say, a girl likes shoes!]. The city is also known for its leather production and you do not need to guess but if you put this together with shoes, then I am in! Full stop.

I am afraid INPI does not give any information regarding these two products, therefore we will need to wait for someone [perhaps a Brazilian reader? Or a lady?] who can enlighten us on what makes these shoes so special to grant them a GI.

Disclaimer: any resemble with the saying that there are shoes that make your feet smell like cheese should be avoided in this post.

Show me the money! Collecting royalties through associations

Patricia Covarrubia December 21, 2011 No comments:

The Colombian Constitutional Court in a landmark case regarding copyright has held that artists in Colombia are not required to belong to an association in order to collect royalties.
The case refers to the called Fanny Mickey [mentioned last year in this blog], specifically Art 168, paragraph 2, last sentence which establishes the following “ This right of remuneration shall be paid through the collecting societies, formed and developed by performers of audiovisual works and recordings, according to the existing rules on copyright and related rights.”law

According to the decision "the performers of audiovisual works or recordings may exercise their right to payment using distinct collection mechanisms of the collecting society...” The situation is considered due to controversy around collecting societies such as Acinpro and Sayco. Thus, the sentence opens the door to artist to find another way to collect their royalties and so explaining that “limiting the collection of copyright to associations is a disproportionate restriction if one takes into account that there may be artists, performers, or producers who have the means to collect this in any other different way.”

Does the sentence follow the Constitution?
While Art 38 of the Colombia Constitution establishes the 'right of association' it does not establish the contrary. Yet, the Court says that the right to not be associated fits the constitution. According to the Constitutional Court as long as the artists can collect their remuneration rights using different mechanisms to the collecting society, including individual collection, it is appropriate.

Argentina: dot ar is live!

Patricia Covarrubia December 20, 2011 No comments:

By Decree 189/2011, published on 13th December, 2011 the Argentinean government created the National Register of Domain Names on the Internet. The National Register will be under the competence of the Legal and Technical Secretariat of the Presidency of the Nation and will be headed by Gustavo Guillermo Justich.

The Register will be responsible for managing the top level domain Argentina ar. as well as the registration of Internet domain names of natural persons and legal entities. Added to this, the National Register will also be responsible for the resolution of disputes arising in respect of registration and ownership of Internet domains amid other objectives.

The Official gazette can be read in full here.

Source Informatica Legal.

Some IPTango moves

* Listed as one of the "Best blogs on Intellectual and Industrial Property Law". The University of Alicante Intellectual Property & Information Technology Project (UAIPIT).

* One of the only two Latin American blog listed in the "Top 100 Intellectual Property Blogs". Feedspot, as of May 2021.

* Listed as one of the "Top 15 Blogs For An Intellectual Property (IP) Enthusiasts". Buzzfeed.com, January 2017.

* Listed as one of the "World's Best IP Blogs". BananaIP.com, December 2015.

* IPTango founder Professor Jeremy Phillips was listed as one of the Managing Intellectual Property magazine's "Fifty Most Influential People" of 2005, 2011, 2013, and 2014.

* Listed as one of the "Influential intellectual property blawgs". A Dictionary of Intellectual Property Law, Peter Groves, 2011.

* Listed as one of the "Communities of Blawgers". Los blogs jurídicos y la web 2.0. para la difusión y la enseñanza del derecho, Gonzalo Ramírez Cleves, 2010.