Sony, la marca más amada en México

Sony, la marca más amada en México

Gilberto Macias (@gmaciasb)   October 31, 2008   No comments:

A pesar de la depresión en el consumo, el 75% de los ejecutivos mexicanos ubica a Sony como la marca líder en electrónicos, según el estudio Las mejores marcas en México de HSM y Millward Brown.

El ranking presentado revela que según 9,901 entrevistas aplicadas por HSM y Millward Brown a ejecutivos y consumidores mexicanos, las mejores marcas asentadas en el país, tomando en cuenta 21 categorías comerciales, son: Sony, con 75% de las respuestas, seguida por Sabritas (57%), Coca-Cola (54%), Johnnie Walker (51%). Dichas marcas son reconocidas gracias a que mantienen un fuerte vínculo con sus consumidores.

Asimismo, el estudio destaca el top 3 de las marcas con mayor impulso: Apple, Starbucks y Iphone.

En el análisis se estudiaron 310 marcas de 21 categorías en base a la relación del consumidor y su lealtad. Las 10 primeras pueden verse aquí.

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Peru commits to Budapest Treaty

Peru commits to Budapest Treaty

Jeremy   October 30, 2008   No comments:

By Budapest Notification No. 261 WIPO confirms the deposit by the Government of the Republic of Peru, on 20 October 2008, of its instrument of accession to the Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure. This Treaty will enter into force, with respect to the Republic of Peru, on 20 January 2009.

Peru's accession brings to 71 the number of countries operating under the Budapest Treaty. Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras. Mexico and Nicaragua are also contracting parties -- but not any of the Andean Community or Mercosur nations.

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Bob's and Doggis fast food operations in cross-border franchise deal

Bob's and Doggis fast food operations in cross-border franchise deal

Jeremy   October 29, 2008   No comments:

MarketWatch reports that Brazil Fast Food Corp. has announced that it has agreed with Grupo de Empresas Doggis (GED) to cross-franchise the Bob's and Doggis brands in Chile and Brazil, respectively. Brazil Fast Food is the second largest fast-food restaurant chain in the country, with 663 points of sale; it trades under brands including Bob's, In Bocca al Lupo Cafe, Pizza Hut and KFC.

Brazil Fast Food will control the Doggis master franchise in Brazil, while GED will control the Bob's master franchise in Chile. Brazil Fast Food expects to develop up to 30 Bob's points of sale in Chile and 40 Doggis points of sale in Brazil in the next five years.

GED is itself a leader in the food service business in Chile. It owns and runs the Doggis hot dog fast food chain. and currently operates through four different brands, with 151 owned and franchised stores.

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Venezuela rejects Decision 486

Venezuela rejects Decision 486

Jeremy   October 28, 2008   No comments:

On 12 September 2008 the Director General of Venezuela's Trade Mark Office announced officially that Andean Community Decision 486 on a Common Industrial Property Regime was no longer applicable in Venezuela and that the only applicable IP legislation is the Industrial Property Law of 1955. Decision 486, approved by Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela on 15 September 2000, regulates all aspects of intellectual property, unfair competition, enforcement procedures and control measures. Although Venezuela left the Andean Community in 2006, this announcement was itself unexpected.

IP rights granted under the Andean legislation continue to be valid in compliance with the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, to which Venezuala is a party. Many issues that are now missing from national IP legislation will be regulated through these international agreements.

[source: Daniela Rojas (Estudio Antequera Parilli & Rodríguez, Caracas), writing for World Trademark Report].

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Argentine INPI moves to cut patent application backlog

Argentine INPI moves to cut patent application backlog

Jeremy   October 23, 2008   No comments:

The Argentine Industrial Property Office (INPI) recently enacted two new resolutions:

* Resolution 178/08, under which the INPI required all patent applicants who filed an application before 1 January 2008 to submit, within a 90-day period, a declaration stating whether the foreign priority which was claimed at the time of filing was granted in the country of origin. The deadline for this period is next week, on 30 October 2008, and is not extendable. In order to comply with this resolution, applicants should submit a list of Argentine patent applications and simply indicate whether foreign priority has been granted. If this is not done by the deadline, the application will be declared abandoned. The idea is that. by making applicants declare their continued interest in prosecuting their pending applications, the current prosecution backlog may be reduced by declaring abandoned those applications for which no declaration is made.

* Resolution 213/08 establishes a procedure whereby the INPI will remove an international priority document established under the Paris Convention from the application file and return it to the owner, reserving the right to request it subsequently if necessary. Likewise, from the moment the resolution comes into force, translations of international priority documents established under the Paris Convention must be filed in digital media (CD-ROM).

[source: Daniel R Zuccherino (Obligado & Cia), writing in International Law Office].

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Free speech amendment to boost biographies

Free speech amendment to boost biographies

Jeremy   October 20, 2008   No comments:

The Commission of Constituency and Justice of the House of Representatives in Brazil has approved Bill 3378/2008. This seeks to amend Article 20 of the Civil Code in order to authorize the creation of artistic works of a biographical nature relating to public figures. The bill states that the legislative amendment is necessary to guarantee free speech, as well as the public’s right to access information. Following the approval of the bill by the Commission, it is highly likely that it will be approved by Congress. This should be a considerable boost to Brazilian cultural activities such as films, television programmes and biographical works.

[source: Jose Mauro Decoussau Machado (Pinheiro Neto Advogados, Sao Paulo), writing for World Media Law Report].

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COMPULSORY LICENSED DRUG - EFAVIRENZ - WILL BE MANUFACTURED BY PUBLIC BRAZILIAN LABORATORIES BY THE END OF 2008

COMPULSORY LICENSED DRUG - EFAVIRENZ - WILL BE MANUFACTURED BY PUBLIC BRAZILIAN LABORATORIES BY THE END OF 2008

José Carlos Vaz e Dias   October 20, 2008   No comments:

MERCK SHARP & DOME markets, under the brand name EFAVIRENZ, the most used drug in Brazil against HIV/AIDS. In a universe of 200.000 Brazilians infected with this disease in, approximately 80.0000 take this drug.

This drug is present in the Anti HIV/AIDS Cocktail offered without costs to the Brazilian infected patients by means of the renowned Public Program so-called “National Program for Sexually Transmitted Diseases/AIDS”. This Program is led by the Brazilian Ministry of Health.

The Ministry of Health argues that Brazil spent almost USD $ 43.000.000,00 with EFAVIRENZ in the year 2007, paying US$ 1,59 per each pill. The estimated cost of this drug to the “National Program for Sexually Transmitted Diseases/AIDS” amounts to US$ 580,00 per patient per year. Considering these numbers, in 2007, the Brazilian government attempted to reach a satisfactory agreement with MERCK SHARP & DOME, proposing the payment of a price comparable to the one practiced by this company in Thailand, i.e., US$ 0,65 per pill, where the public expenditure with EFAVIRENZ does not surpass USD $ 245,88 per patient.

MERCK SHARP & DOME did not accept the proposal of the Brazilian government to use the same financial terms as those used in Thailand, even after several attempts to come up with an agreement.

Due to this unsatisfactory outcome, the Brazilian government published the Decree no. 6,108 dated of May 4th, 2007. It determined the compulsorily license of EFAVIRENZ patents PI 1100250-6 and 9608839-7, based on the public interest principle. This license was destined only to the public and non-commercial use of the drug, and aimed to attend the aforementioned local HIV/AIDS Program. The time frame of the license was set to be 5 years.

It was further determined that EFAVIRENZ would be manufactured by laboratories of governmental institutions. Since then, Brazil had to import a generic version of EFAVIRENZ from India, at US $ 0,48 per pill, to supply the internal need. This measure was indispensable since the selected public institution to produce the mentioned drug, Farmanguinhos Laboratory at Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), had to acquire the necessary technology to manufacture the EFAVIRENZ from MERCK SHARP & DOME.

Recently, the Ministry of Health announced that Brazil will begin the manufacture of the generic version of the drug by the end of 2008. Farmanguinhos is further waiting for the regulatory approval of the Brazilian Health National Agency (ANVISA). As soon as this approval is issued the industrial production will commence.


According to the Ministry of Health, due to the successful outcome of this initiative, compulsory licenses may be extended to others Anti-HIV drugs, such as TENOFOVIR. This is one of the new targets, since TENOFOVIR is the most expensive drug, representing 15% of the overall costs supported by Brazil in regard to the HID/AIDS Program. It is also currently used by approximately 32.000 infected persons in Brazil.

Will EFAVIRENZ constitute a leading case for the Brazilian Government policy to reduce its costs to fight against HIV/AIDS? Will TENOFOVIR be the next target of the Brazilian Government?

These are questions for which we do not have yet an answer. At least, not a clear and transparent ones.

Nevertheless, it appears that EFAVIRENZ may not be the last compulsory license case, even though this compulsory license has frightened drug companies in investing and initiating Research & Development Programs in Brazil. Let us await for future developments.

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Cemex la marca mexicana mejor valuada

Cemex la marca mexicana mejor valuada

Gilberto Macias (@gmaciasb)   October 17, 2008   No comments:

La consultora Interbrand ubicó a Cemex como la principal compañía mexicana por encima de otras tan conocidas como Bimbo, Telcel, Telmex, Televisa, Banamex, Banorte y TV Azteca.

Según el ranking de 2008, primero que Interbrand realiza para América Latina, CEMEX se ubicó en cuarto lugar, detrás de los bancos brasileños, Itaú, Bradesco y Banco Do Brasil, alcanzando un valor de tres mil 998 millones de dólares.

En el estudio “Las marcas más valiosas de América Latina” “Las marcas más valiosas de América Latina 2008”, la consultora indica que la metodología utilizada consistió en analizar cuánto de los flujos futuros esperados para una empresa se deben a ese activo intangible conocido como marca.

De acuerdo con citado ranking, Cemex supera el valor de marca de firmas como Starbucks, ING, Motorola, Duracell, Smirnoff, Ferrari, Armani, Marriot, Shell, Fedex y Visa, lo que la situaría en el Top 100 Global de la consultora.

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FINESSE, MEN's FITNESS confusingly similar, rules Colombia Council

FINESSE, MEN's FITNESS confusingly similar, rules Colombia Council

Jeremy   October 16, 2008   No comments:

Mariz Gestao e Investimentos Limitada sought to register the words MEN'S FITNESS as a trade mark for goods in Class 25. Colombian company Alpina Productos Alimenticios SA opposed, saying that mark was confusingly similar to its earlier FINESSE registered trade mark for goods in Class 29. The Colombian Trade Mark Office dismissed the opposition and allowed the registration. Alpina then filed an action for the cancellation of MEN'S FITNESS before the Colombian Council of State, pleading both likelihood of confusion and that its FINESSE mark was well known.

The Council of State found that Alpina's FINESSE mark was a well-known trade mark under Andean Community Decision 486, confirming that it was thus entitled to a special degree of protection. It then assessed the risk of confusion, holding the marks to be confusingly similar from visual, phonetic and conceptual points of view: if both marks were used concurrently on the market under equal conditions, consumers would be confused as to the origin of the goods.

The Council added that, according to a pre-judicial interpretation issued by the Tribunal of Justice of the Andean Community, confusion is likely to result from the "joint and synchronized impressions created by the marks" especially since, in assessing the likelihood of confusion, their similarities rather than their differences should be taken into account. Taking this into account, MEN'S FITNESS was invalid.

[source: Fernando Triana, Triana Uribe & Michelsen, Bogota, writing in World Trademark Report]

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ADR in IP contracts under threat in Venezuela

ADR in IP contracts under threat in Venezuela

Jeremy   October 13, 2008   No comments:

In July of this year the Supreme Court of Venezuela agreed to entertain a reference for a preliminary ruling filed by the Office of the Attorney General on the applicability of Article 258 of the Constitution. This provision establishes that the law must promote alternative means of dispute resolution. Says the Attorney General, Article 258 must be interpreted in line with Article 22 of the Law on Promotion and Protection of Investments, which states that arbitration or other means of dispute resolution will not be used if they are not “expressly” encouraged by an international treaty to which Venezuela is a party. It was also suggested that, even where an international treaty does encourage alternative dispute resolution, the parties to a contract must have “expressly and unequivocally” agreed to submit to arbitration.

Parties to international contracts tend to draft highly specialized and precise dispute resolution clauses, especially in the field of IP, to avoid problems caused by delay and expense in utilising the traditional court process. Also, arbitrators can be appointed who are experts in their fields, while judges may not have the relevant expertise. Other issues are relevant too, such as the need for confidentiality.

If, as is likely, the Supreme Court issues a preliminary ruling that restricts the interpretation of Article 258, parties to international agreements will be precluded from submitting to arbitration any conflict that may arise within the context of an international contract. Such result would have dramatic consequences, as the national courts often fail to provide a final decision in business disputes within a reasonable time. Consequences of such a ruling can be that the number of international contracts involving Venezuelan parties will decrease and that
Venezuela’s reputation as an investor-friendly country will be damaged. Furthermore, if Venezuelan courts refuse to recognize the validity of arbitral awards issued in other countries, arbitral awards issued in Venezuela are likely not to be recognized in other jurisdictions.

[source: Daniela Rojas, Estudio Antequera Parilli & Rodríguez, Caracas, writing in World Trademark Report].

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