IPTango

Monday, 19 July 2010

Colombia: Register your trade mark, do not lose your business!

Patricia Covarrubia July 19, 2010 No comments:

Todays headline refers to the slogan that the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC) has been using to promote the registration of trade marks. The campaign is directed to small businesses and entrepreneurs and it has been running since early this year. Basically the campaign not only encourages businesses to protect their trade marks and thus making them aware to the benefits of registering the mark and the risks involved if they do not do so, but also offers special discount of 25 percent for the registration of its mark – adding a 5% discount if the registration of the mark is made online.

The SIC webpage announces that due to the positive impact of the campaign and at the request of the chambers of commerce, the SIC extended the deadline until 31 December.

The SIC together with Chambers of Commerce, the mayor of Bogota and ACOPI, has trained over 400 entrepreneurs in the second quarter of this year. The main target is clarification between registering a business in the chambers of commerce and registering a trade mark at the SIC. While registering a business will demonstrate publicly the owner as a trader and its type of business, it does not protect its trade mark. The note continues to said that “if your trade mark is not recorded at the SIC, it does not exist”.

While I can pass judgement on this last sentence by saying that a trade mark which is not registered can still be protected under unfair competition laws (I cannot said that it is as easy and smooth process; on the contrary, it is a long, costly and tedious one) the campaign is a truthful one. Small businesses need to be aware that by just registering their businesses with a chosen trade name, it is not the same as registering and protecting a trade mark. For that reason, I can see that the campaign tries to illustrate entrepreneurs in a logical manner. That said, I cannot disapprove of the movement but on the contrary, praise it.

IMPI bond and counter-bond practice gets fine-tuning

Jeremy July 19, 2010 No comments:

The Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) may grant various precautionary measures in trade mark infringement and unfair competition suits. These include the seizure or suspension from circulation of infringing goods. To protect the alleged infringer who is eventually cleared of infringement claims, the plaintiff must however post a bond to cover the cost of damage caused through the wrongful grant of preliminary relief -- and IMPI will even vacate its order granting preliminary relief where the defendant posts a counter-bond to cover the cost of his own alleged liability.

In the past, IMPI has required that the counter-bond be double the amount of the original bond. However, by a legislative amendment this June, the quantum of the counter-bond is limited to just 140% of the plaintiff's bond on the basis that parties requesting precautionary measures have on their own initiative posted bonds of exorbitant magnitude, for the purpose of making it impossible for the affected party to post a counter-bond for lack of economic resources. IMPI is now also given discretion to increase the amount of the bond or the counter-bond, where it appears that the original amount is inadequate.

Source: note in the 15 July 2010 issue of the INTA Bulletin (Vol. 65, No. 13)

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?

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.