IPTango

Tuesday, 18 February 2020

Call for WIPO Indigenous Fellowship Program

Verónica Rodríguez Arguijo February 18, 2020 No comments:

This post was first published on The IPKat blog:

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is calling for Expression of Interest for its Indigenous Fellowship Program.

The program was launched in 2009. It is part of WIPO’s series initiatives seeking to involve indigenous people in the work carried out by the organization with the goal, inter alia, of fostering legal expertise and skills within indigenous people on matters that are relevant to them.

Brazil: A sweet ending

Patricia Covarrubia January 29, 2020 No comments:

The Brazilian IPO (INPI) left 2019 with a sweet Geographical Indication (GI).

The INPI published on the Revista da Imóvel Industrial (RPI) nº 2554, December 2019, the granting of ‘Capanema’ for the product ‘melado batido e melado escorrido’. The word ‘melado’ means syrup and in this publication, we learn that the syrup is for both ‘beat’ and ‘drained’. The syrup is produced by the use of muscovado sugar from cane sugar, also known as ‘brown cane sugar’.

An early Christmas present: Collectives Marks for free

Patricia Covarrubia December 05, 2019 No comments:

The Peruvian Instituto Nacional de Defensa de la Competencia y de la Proteccion de la Propiedad Intelectual (INDECOPI) has granted 164 collective marks to associations located in the Region of San Martin benefiting several localities in the Region such as: Tocache, Shunte, Nueva Bambamarca, Nuevo Progreso, Moyobamba, Lamas, Bellavista, Rioja, Nueva Cajamarca, Juanjuí, San José de Sisa, Chazuta, Shanao, Tarapoto y Yurimaguas. The producers and artisans benefited by the marks were based on cocoa, coffee, ceramics, textiles, and the tourism sector.

The project/incentive
In accordance with the Decreto Supremo No. 092-2018 / PCM, in force since September 5, 2018, till September 5, 2019, the fee for the registration applications of collective marks which were presented by associations of producers, artisans, among others, from across the country, would be waved.

Moreover, through the Center for Intellectual Property Development (CEPI) the producers and artisans received advice ‘on the classification of products to distinguish, search and evaluate registration records, filling of forms, review of the requirements, among other important advice.’ Other state entities were also of assistance.

The full list can be found here (in Spanish)

México – Ley de Salvaguardia contra plagio a Culturas Indígenas y Afromexicanas

Gilberto Macias (@gmaciasb) December 05, 2019 No comments:

El principal objetivo de la denominada Ley de Salvaguardia de los Conocimientos, Cultura e Identidad de los Pueblos y Comunidades Indígenas y Afromexicanos es evitar el plagio de obras, artesanías, prendas típicas, artículos, entre otros, y garantizar su cultura e identidad nacional.

Según el Dictamen de las Comisiones "la salvaguardia se entiende como el conjunto de medidas de carácter jurídico, técnico, administrativo y financiero para la preservación y enriquecimiento de los elementos de la cultura e identidad de los pueblos y comunidades (...) que incluyen, entre otras acciones, la identificación, documentación, investigación, protección, promoción, valorización, transmisión y revitalización de esos elementos".

La iniciativa surgió en respuesta a la “laguna jurídica” que existe y facilita que personas ajenas a las comunidades indígenas y afromexicanas se apropien de las expresiones culturales de dichos grupos sin hacer ninguna retribución a cambio. Entre 2012 y 2019, se registraron 39 casos de plagio de al menos 23 marcas de ropa nacionales e internacionales que se han apropiado de diseños de comunidades indígenas.

Latest news from Brazil

Patricia Covarrubia December 02, 2019 No comments:

Over the weekend, I read that the last week of November the Brazilian Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial (INP) signed two essential Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

1. INPI and the European Patent Office (EPO) MoU was based on an Enhanced Technical and Strategic Partnership aims to improve cooperation between Brazil and Europe in the area of patents. The time frame of the MoU is a two-year work plan which is agreed between the two institutions.

INPI’s president declared the memorandum as an important piece which will ‘stimulate investment in innovation and industrial property, focusing on the generation of new patents, especially in partnership.’

Both offices also renewed their Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot program among their respective offices.

More information here.

Impacto económico de las marcas en América Latina

Gilberto Macias (@gmaciasb) November 06, 2019 No comments:

ASIPI e INTA acaban de publicar el informe “Las marcas en América Latina: Estudio de su impacto económico en 10 países de la región”. Este informe es una extensión del informe previamente publicado en el 2016.

En ese primer informe, se evaluó la contribución económica de las industrias intensivas en marcas en Chile, Colombia, Perú, Panamá, y México. En este nuevo informe, se actualizan los resultados de los citados países y se extendió el análisis a cinco nuevos países: Argentina, Brasil, Costa Rica, Guatemala y República Dominicana.

Brazil: Madrid Protocol in practice

Patricia Covarrubia October 25, 2019 No comments:

This week, the Brazilian Intellectual Property Office (INPI) published the first process for international applications of trade marks.

It is observed, that the exam integrates the new activities performed by INPI, including electronic filing and the transmission of the international application at the WIPO International Secretariat.
This publication remarks on the variations observed during the Madrid Protocol certification exam. Thus, the Industrial Property Magazine (RPI) in its ‘trade mark’ section includes now a chapter called: Protocol of Madrid.

INPI also reports that its national office has received a request for an international trade mark application. This has already been sent to WIPO through a very efficient and speedy process since it was done within twenty days, which is less than one-third of the deadline set for this step (two months is the set time).

The spet by step guidance published by INPI can be found here (in Portuguese)

More info here (in Portuguese)

Chile vs Peru: the battle over ‘Pisco’ continues

Patricia Covarrubia October 02, 2019 No comments:

The Peruvian Ministry of External Relations has issued a Press Release stating that Peru will appeal to the ruling of the Court of First Instance of Thailand against the registration of a Chilean association that intends to use the term Pisco.

Press Release 010 - 19
Given the news reports that advance the ruling of the Court of First Instance on Intellectual Property and International Trade of Thailand, it should be stressed that despite the exclusive ownership of the Peruvian Denomination of Origin Pisco in Thailand, said Court ruled that in that country you can use "Pisco Chile".
Peru considers that this first decision of the Thailand Court does lead to consumer confusion in that country, since the Pisco Denomination of Origin is Peruvian and this is confirmed by the historical, geographical, cultural and scientific arguments that our country supports and defends in all the world’s court.
In that sense, the ruling in the first instance will be appealed immediately by Peru, in order to continue opposing any attempt to register because these are obvious errors of fact and law.

A Pisco sour for a sour battle

Years of international dispute have persisted over the origin of Pisco which both Chile and Peru have produced since colonial times. Both countries recognize it in their own jurisdiction as a Denomination of Origin. Additionally, back in 2018, Chile was open to accepting the name of Peruvian Pisco if Peru accepted the name of Chilean Pisco – a qui pro quo that did not go far since Peru did not accept such a proposal.

The case brought appears straightforward. If the Thailandese Registry of Industrial Property recognized Pisco as a Denomination of Origin (DO) produced in Peru, it does then prevents the registration of the name and any marketing of Pisco within the Thailand market if it has not complied with the Peruvian national regulation. Clearly, if Pisco was not made in Peru it cannot be called as such. Well, it is not that simple. In India, the dispute over the name went over 9 years (finally won by Peru) and this appears to be the case now in Thailand. The dispute is over a year on, so get ready for a long battle.

The whisky exchange webpage (where I get my inspiration from:) ) notes that ‘Pisco is a grape brandy produced in Chile and Peru’. In the EU (oh BREXIT is coming…who will register first in the UK, Chile or Peru) both, Chile and Peru, were granted geographical indication. Chile had an association agreement (2002) where recognition was given, and then Peru applied for the registration of Pisco as GI (granted in 2013).

Intangible Cultural Heritage, Intellectual Property and the Politics of Development

Patricia Covarrubia September 18, 2019 No comments:

The Enredados network (policymakers, academics, and practitioners in the fields of intellectual property (IP) and intangible cultural heritage (ICH)) is pleased to invite you to a seminar and panel discussion.

Intangible Cultural Heritage, Intellectual Property and the Politics of Development
Christoph Antons (University of Newcastle, Australia)

In countries of the “developing world”, intangible cultural heritage is important for both national development policies and the rights claims of local and indigenous communities. All intangible cultural heritage is originally local, but national governments tend to shift it to the national level in the interest of nation building and income from tourism. Where communities have migrated or live across borders drawn by colonial powers, this has triggered disputes between neighbouring countries, whereby governments use different national histories and interpretations of an often mystical past to support heritage claims. Law as an instrument of the state has supported this centralisation of heritage claims and administration in the initial stages.

Antons' latest edited volume

Recently, however, communities have begun to articulate their own regional and local interests in heritage and are finding some support from constitutional reforms strengthening human rights and supporting decentralisation policies. Such decentralisation policies in turn were triggered by a paradigm change in development policies which aimed at a reduction of what was perceived as central government corruption and at a better sharing of resources with regions and provinces. The presentation will show the bargaining in this context about intangible cultural heritage (and related royalties) between communities, communities and governments and between the governments of neighbouring countries. In claiming what they perceive to be their rights, the parties involved use frequently changing combinations of legal principles with varying degrees of validity and legitimacy, drawn in particular from intellectual property law, international law, environmental law, constitutional law and customary law. The presentation will focus on examples from Southeast Asia, with brief comparative observations related to developments elsewhere.

Place: Coventry University London Campus
Middlesex Street, London, UK
Date: Monday 23 September 2019
Time: 5.30pm-8pm
*FREE ENTRANCE*

Enredados aims to encourage debate on the following issues:

the relationship between IP and ICH safeguarding;
the intersections between IP and ICH-related policy; and
how IP protection might be used as a tool for safeguarding ICH.

See you there.

Illegal Streams: shutting down in Ecuador

Patricia Covarrubia September 17, 2019 No comments:

The Ecuadorian Institute of Intellectual Property (IEPI) currently named SENADI (National Intellectual Rights Service) is the state entity that regulates and controls the application of IP. The Organic Code of the Social Economy of Knowledge, Creativity, and Innovation is the IP legislation applicable.

SENADI has different divisions, one of them is the Órgano Colegiado de Derechos Intelectuales, which is the office in ‘charge of attending all administrative resources and cancellation actions that are presented before it’.

The latest measure by SENADI is seen as a ‘milestone’, but why?

Background: in August 2019, DIRECTV Ecuador C. Ltda., and the National League of Professional Football, LALIGA, presented an administrative action against MEGAPLAY and LIKETV in Ecuador. SENADI carried out an inspection of a property in which supposedly there was equipment that allows access to TV signals without authorization.
How did it work? MEGAPLAY and LIKETV were retransmitting unauthorized audio and video signals to their clients. The clients paid an amount to watch the programs as well as having a device called TV Box, that received the retransmitted signals.
The result: SENADI ordered the blocking of Internet Protocols (IP) that allow access to internet television MEGAPLAY and LIKETV in Ecuador.

This is not, however, the first time SENADI blocks illegal sites. Back in June 2019, SENADI blocked 5 sites belonging to ROJA DIRECTA which also specializes in streaming sports. Ecuador follows other countries in the region. In Argentina, the video streaming Cuevana.tv site (12 million monthly users) was blocked in 2011. In 2017, the Mexican national IPO suspended SPORTFLIX (the NETFLIX of sports ) due to copyright infringement. Just because is a new way to communicate and distribute TV programs, it does not mean that they are outside the IP legislation – watch out.

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.