Region: Ecuador

In <i>SARL de Gestion de Pierre Cardin v Industria Ecuatoriana de Confecciones</i>, the Intellectual/Industrial Property and Plant Varieties Committee, a sub-directorate of the Ecuadorian Institute of Intellectual Property has refused the plaintiff's application to cancel a registration for the trade name Pierre Cardin. The committee held that the plaintiff's PIERRE CARDIN mark is not famous in Ecuador.

10 March 2004

The IP Committee of the Ecuador IP Institute has ruled that the extension period to file a trademark opposition begins the day after the formal notification of extension and not the day after the initial period for filing expires. This will hopefully put an end to the controversy that started last year and led to hundreds of opposition proceedings being put on hold.

13 February 2004

The Ecuador Intellectual Property Institute has put an estimated 200 to 400 opposition procedures on hold while a committee decides whether the 30-day extension period to file an opposition begins with the last day of the regular opposition period or with the formal notification of extension.

14 November 2003

The Andean Community Court of Justice has issued a ruling on the interpretation of Andean Community Cartagena Agreement Committee Decision 344 on a Common Industrial Property Regime, which confirms that the standard for examining the likelihood of confusion between marks for pharmaceutical products is stricter than for marks for other types of goods because of the increased health risks involved.

29 October 2003

In <i>Panama Hat Company of the Pacific v Corporacion Habanos SA</i>, the Ecuadorian Intellectual Property Institute has refused to extend the registration of the MONTECRISTO mark to cover clothing on the grounds that it is confusingly similar to the geographical indication Montecristi used for hats.

09 October 2003

In a case involving US paper products giant Kimberly Clark, the Ecuadorian Institute of Intellectual Property has ruled that terms consisting exclusively of numbers that serve to qualify or describe some characteristic of the relevant product may not be registered as marks.

04 July 2003

In <i>Van Cleef & Arpels SA v Zanzi SA</i>, Ecuador's Intellectual Property Committee has confirmed that a suit for partial cancellation of a mark may not be brought until at least December 1 2003 - three years after Andean Community Decision 486 came into force.

09 May 2003

Although Ecuador's Intellectual Property Law and Andean Community Decision 486 prohibit the registration of generic or technical terms as trademarks, the decision of the Intellectual Property Institute to register a number of marks submitted by BellSouth Corporation may indicate a change in the way this legislation is interpreted.

17 March 2003

US company Owens Corning has won a case before the Administrative Litigation Court in which it opposed the registration of the trade name Fiberglass Industrial y Comercial Ltda based on the argument that it is the registered owner of the FIBERGLASS trademark in Ecuador.

06 December 2002