Central America's trade pact with the EU: another whopper

Central America's trade pact with the EU: another whopper

Jeremy   December 27, 2012   No comments:

On Monday, this blog reported on the publication, on the website of the European Union's Official Journal, of the EU's trade agreement with Peru and Colombia. The post commented on its vast length at 2,605 pages. Well, that massive pagination has already been exceeded. The EU's Official has now also published the full text of the Agreement establishing an Association between the European Union and its Member States, on the one hand, and Central America on the other -- and that's 2,618 pages long, not counting a further two and a half page Protocol on Cultural Cooperation.  Again, it contains plenty of references to intellectual property rights and geographical indications.

What country is "Central America", you may be wondering. Well, it is defined for the purposes of the Agreement as the Republics of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama -- but not Belize -- and naturally not Mexico since that country migrated from Central America to North America, but that's another story.

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Trade marks and due diligence in Brazil: a new article

Trade marks and due diligence in Brazil: a new article

Jeremy   December 26, 2012   No comments:

The most recent issue of the Trademark Reporter (that's November-December, 2012 Vol. 102 No. 6), published by the International Trademark Associaton (INTA) for its members, contains an article of great relevance to one of Latin America's most active and vibrant economies. "Trademarks and Due Diligence for Mergers and Acquisitions in Brazil", by Paula Mena Barreto Pinheiro, addresses the most important issues involved in due diligence specifically involving trade marks, as well as certain country-specific considerations that should be taken into account whenever acquiring or merging with a company in Brazil. Given the amount of corporate and transactional activity that can be expected in Brazil in the run-up to the major international sporting events Brazil is hosting in the next few years, this article may be subjected to a good deal of attention.

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A great stocking filler: the EU/Colombia/Peru Trade Agreement

A great stocking filler: the EU/Colombia/Peru Trade Agreement

Jeremy   December 24, 2012   No comments:

If you are desperately looking for some reading material this Christmas, look no further than the Trade Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and Colombia and Peru, of the other part, the text of which has just been posted on the website of the Official Journal of the European Union. Inclusive of Annexes and declarations, it's a mere 2,605 pages long.

The term "intellectual property" appears 45 times, but that's not as many times as "geographic indications", which are mentioned 65 times.  In contrast, "patent" gets 19 plugs and "copyright" just 17.

Enjoy!

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President of Brazil visits France with GI in hand

President of Brazil visits France with GI in hand

Patricia Covarrubia   December 18, 2012   No comments:

The Brazilian Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial (INPI) reports the official visit to France of Mrs Dilma Rousseff, President of Brazil. The Brazilian President handed to her French counterpart, President François Hollande, the Certificate of Designation of Origin (DO) for sparkling wines produced in the Champagne region.

The document was issued the 11th of December by INPI’s President, Jorge Ávila. It is said that the certificate was the result of 5 years co-operation between INPI France and INPI Brazil as well as the Committee Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC). The French President said that this recognition 'was an honour for the French ' and acknowledged Brazil’s improvement in relation to the protection of geographical indication (GI).

Moreover, the director of INPI France encouraged French producers to obtain legal protection of their GI in Brazil stating that the two offices are “highly engaged in the development of cooperation between the two countries to boost growth and mutual respect of interests”. On the other hand, INPI’s Brazil president said that the Brazilian cultural diversity has “immense potential of geographical indications and designations of origin. We have worked hard to spread among domestic producers to use this system as a national economic asset”.

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Accusing your co-author of plagiarism: have you heard of it?

Accusing your co-author of plagiarism: have you heard of it?

Patricia Covarrubia   December 17, 2012   No comments:

From Mexico comes the news that an electoral counselor, Blanca Castaneyra Chavez accused her coauthor, Dominguez Gudini, of plagiarizing an article that they wrote together and was published in the magazine ‘Diurna’. The article, entitled ‘The socioeconomic factor at the top of campaigns: cheaper elections’ published in a magazine which is edited by the Consejo General del Instituto Electoral Veracruzano (IEV) (General Council Electoral Institute of Veracruz), was used by Dominguez Gudini to be published in a compendium of electoral law procedure of the Ministry of Interior.

Mr Dominguez has apologized and explained the following: I was “invited by the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a publication ... in no time I claim that experience like mine, it's like someone writing on constitutional law and says he wrote the constitution. As a matter of a personal nature I do not like to quote myself”.

For the compendium the title was changed to: ‘Governor’s funding and control of campaigns, the Veracruz experience’. The text was attributed to only Mr Dominguez.

Castaneyra Chavez lamented the fact and said she will proceed legally against Mr Dominguez. She explains that the material which was published in the magazine Diurna was owned by IEV and that Mr Dominguez should have cited the source of the text used and should have given credit to the co-author.

Well, I guess this is not the first time this type of issue happens – not that they are normal! What captures my attention is Mr Dominguez statement that he does not like to quote himself…what about given the credit to his co-author then? The info comes from the newspaper ‘El Universal’ and so, there is not much detail of the grounds of the to-be case. We could speculate that it will be IEV the one that brings the proceedings, as the owner of the publication; and the author could bring also proceeding but in that case would be under moral rights ie paternity rights.

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Cantinflas y los derechos de autor de sus películas

Cantinflas y los derechos de autor de sus películas

Rodrigo Ramirez Herrera @ramahr   December 10, 2012   No comments:

El Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Ciudad de México determinó que Eduardo Moreno Laparade, sobrino de Cantinflas, es el "único y legítimo" propietario de los derechos de 39 filmes del legendario actor cómico mexicano, según comenta la prensa.

El fallo resuelve un pleito de 19 años por los derechos de las películas de Mario Moreno, "Cantinflas" que tuvo como partes enfrentadas al sobrino del actor, Moreno Laparade, y al hijo adoptivo del cómico, Mario Moreno Ivanova.

El fallo fue dictado por la Primera Sala Familiar del Tribunal Superior de Justicia, integrado por las magistradas Adriana Canales Pérez y Cleotilde Susana Schettino Pim, por el cual condena a Mario Moreno Ivanova (hijo adoptivo de "Cantinflas") a "no molestar en esos derechos a Moreno Laparade".

De acuerdo con el fallo Moreno Laparade tiene libre disponibilidad de las liquidaciones de las regalías (royalties) que tiene consignadas Columbia Pictures Industries ante el juzgado federal en Los Angeles, California, a partir del 4 de marzo de 1993, así como las regalías que se sigan generando bajo la vigencia del derecho de autor. 

El Tribunal además condenó a los codemandados Mario Moreno Ivanova y sucesión de Mario Moreno Reyes, al pago de los daños y prejuicios reclamados, que deberán cuantificarse en la fase de ejecución de la sentencia así como los costas del proceso judicial.

Entre las películas en disputa se encuentran los derechos sobre  "No te engañes", "Corazón", "Ahí está el detalle", "El bombero atómico", "El bolero de Raquel", "Por mis pistolas" y "El profe".

En agosto del 2011, en la conmemoración de los 100 años del nacimiento del cómico Cantinflas, reflotaron los conflictos entre Mario Moreno Ivanova y Eduardo Moreno Laparade, su hijo adoptivo y su sobrino, respectivamente. La disputa tomó 19 años en los tribunales por los derechos de 39 largometrajes, de los 47 en los que trabajó el artista de fama internacional.

"Cantinflas", fue ganador del Globo de Oro al mejor actor en 1957 por "La vuelta al mundo en 80 días", de Michael Anderson, y falleció el 20 de abril de 1993 debido a un cáncer pulmonar. Ese mismo año inició el pleito legal.

Moreno Ivanova sostuvo que es hijo natural, pero fuera del matrimonio, y es el heredero universal de la fortuna de su padre, calculada en al menos cien millones de dólares.

Pero Moreno Laparade por su parte sostuvo que el 4 de marzo de 1993, en Houston, Texas, ante la presencia de la notaria público Melvy Azucena Reyna, "mi tío (Cantinflas) en un documento denominado Agreement me transfirió todos los derechos, títulos e intereses de esas 39 películas".

Aclaró que esos filmes "como me los cedió mi tío antes de morir, ya no eran parte de la masa hereditaria".

Fuentes: EMOL y notimex

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Time for a coffee? Don’t forget the biscuits

Time for a coffee? Don’t forget the biscuits

Patricia Covarrubia   November 30, 2012   No comments:

Another news from Brazil, and in the same line as two days ago, the Brazilian Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial (INPI) granted a Geographical Indication (GI) in the form of indication of source (Indicação de Procedência) to ‘biscoitos de São Tiago’.

The traditional biscuits are from the Region Campo das Vertentes in Minas Gerais and this application was made on August 23, 2011 (posted here). Request was made by the Associação São-Tiaguense (formed by 23 members) and aided by the Centre for Technological Innovation (NIT) from the Federal University of São João del Rei (UFSJ) and supported by the Foundation for Research and Support of Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG). The city became known for its biscuits that were offered to visitors on hostels farms and it is nowadays recognized as 'A Terra do Café com Biscoito' -- the tradition has extended and the city always holds a ‘Coffee with Biscuit Party’ early September receiving more that 50,000 visitors.

The applicants now have 60 days to pay the fee and a certificate will be issued, finishing the registration process.

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No boundaries for Geographical indication

No boundaries for Geographical indication

Patricia Covarrubia   November 28, 2012   2 comments:

From the Brazilian Instituto Nacional da Propiedad Industriale (INPI) we receive news that a service has been granted a Geographical Indication (GI).

On November 27th INPI announced granting GI to services to ‘Porto Digital’ (located in Recife, capital of the State of Pernambuco, Brazil). It becomes the first GI granted to a service in Brazil and now the representatives do have 60 days to pay the prescribed fee and a certificate will be issued, finishing the registration process.

The service entails the climate for innovation that is seen in Pernambuco. It involves the promotion of economic and social changes that institutions, companies, universities and government have been encouraging in the last decades. This has increased the income and employment in the fields of ‘IT and creative economy’.

In this regards, three issues may be brought:

1. GI for a service: The protection of GI is usually granted to goods/products (not only agricultural products but also handicraft). The Paris Convention, the Lisbon and Madrid Agreements as well as the TRIPS Agreement refer to ‘all products’. Majority of countries grant protection to products meaning only goods, tangible things. Here we notice that the scope of application of the Brazilian Law is more extensive than the scope of the EU system for example, as it applies to services as well. The word ‘product’ then refers as in its full meaning -- coming from the Latin prōductum (something). In fact, there are other countries that grant GI protection to services such as Azerbaijan, Croatia, and Singapore – and now we know that Brazil too.
2. Definition of GI: Now discussing the issue of what is a GI we notice that it identifies a particular product (in this case a service) as originating from a particular territory because of its quality, reputation and/or characteristic, in other words, its essence –intrinsic to the place. Now, for the information provided by INPI I do not see what makes this service dissimilar from any other project that encourages innovation. What do they have (i.e. characteristic/quality)? And thus, what is the link between the service and the place? The service has the say qualities/reputation because of its place of origin [I am afraid I do not see it]. The only matter that I could find was the actual statement made by ‘Porto Digital’ explaining that they are “ a technological development project that aggregates public investments, private initiative and universities, aiming at the domestic and foreign markets... comprises an innovation system”. This brings my third query. 
3. GI to a non-geographical territory As perhaps you already spotted, ‘Porto Digital’ is not an actual name of a place. We are used to see geographical names as a GIs-- this is the tradition. However, non-geographical names can be protected as well if they are linked to a particular place – here will be to either Recife( city) or Pernambuco (state). A good example would be Feta as a GI for cheese. Porto Digital is (so it seems) a reputable centre for Information and Communication - it is a technology cluster as it is for example, the ‘Silicon valley’ (California for computer technology) and more appealing to me, ‘Antwerp’ (yep! The diamond centre). Now we have a new one to know of: ‘Proto Digital’ for services in the creative economy.

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Sony pierde caso Playnow ante titulares mexicanos

Sony pierde caso Playnow ante titulares mexicanos

Rodrigo Ramirez Herrera @ramahr   November 20, 2012   No comments:

El Instituto Mexicano de la Propiedad Industrial (IMPI) negó a la empresa Sony Ericcson los derechos sobre la marca "Playnow”, argumentando que ésta es plenamente distintiva de los servicios para los que fue registrada, informó la familia mexicana propietaria de esta marca después de dos años de litigio. Mediante dos resoluciones se estableció que la marca “Playnow” es válida ante terceros desde el 24 de mayo de 2000, por lo que el uso que le ha dado Sony Ericsson desde 2004, como nombre de aplicación precargada en sus teléfonos celulares y su portal de descargas, es ilegal.

A principios de 2010, el titular de los registros (1257891) de la marca “Playnow” en México, José Manuel Somohano Silva, estimando que Sony Ericsson usaba su marca, presentó ante la Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) dos querellas por actos de piratería.

Sin embargo, como una estrategia legal de defensa contra las averiguaciones previas iniciadas en su contra, la empresa interpuso ante el IMPI dos demandas de nulidad de los registros de marca, aseguró la familia Somohano. Por lo tanto, sostuvo que no existe obstáculo para que la Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) actúe de oficio en contra de la empresa por el delito de piratería.

Fuente: www.cnnexpansion.com 

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México se adhiere al Protocolo de Madrid

México se adhiere al Protocolo de Madrid

Rodrigo Ramirez Herrera @ramahr   November 20, 2012   No comments:

La Secretaría de Economía informó que México se unió este lunes al denominado Protocolo concerniente al Arreglo de Madrid relativo al Registro Internacional de Marcas de 27 de junio 1989 (Sistema de Madrid).

En Ginebra, ante el Director General de la Organización Mundial de la Propiedad Intelectual (OMPI), Francis Gurry, el Secretario de Economía mexicano, Bruno Ferrari, -acompañado del Subsecretario de Comercio Exterior de la SE, Francisco de Rosenzweig y del Director General del Instituto Mexicano de Propiedad Industrial (IMPI), Rodrigo Roque-, depositaron el instrumento de adhesión de México a dicho protocolo.

El Director General de la OMPI, afirmó que "el marco legal e institucional de México garantizará la implementación exitosa del Protocolo de Madrid en México," al tiempo que indicó que el IMPI se encuentra dentro de las primeras quince oficinas que reciben el número más alto de solicitudes de marca en todo el mundo.

México se convierte en el cuarto país que habla hispana en el Sistema de Madrid. El total de miembros del sistema internacional de marcas asciende a la fecha a 89 habiéndose incorporado este año, Filipinas, Colombia, Nueva Zelanda además de México.

Fuente: www.radioformula.com.mx 

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