Region: Ecuador

Following a request for an injunction by Crocs Inc, the Ecuadorian IP Office has seized more than 37,000 items during operations carried out simultaneously in three different cities.

19 March 2018

In Ecuador, the National Agency for Health Inspection, Regulation and Monitoring has recently issued a regulation relating to the control of counterfeit, adulterated and altered products.

15 September 2016

Following an anonymous complaint to the district attorney's office in Quito alerting them to the sale of counterfeit pharmaceutical products, the National Police of Ecuador conducted several raids on various locations resulting in a number of arrests being made.

07 September 2016

A presidential decree has amended the Regulations for the Application of the Law on Import, Commercialisation and Sale of Generic Medicines for Human Use. The changes alter the practice regarding the branding and trademarking of patented medicines after expiration of the patent.

21 June 2016

Several Latin American countries have proposed the introduction of plain packaging for products such as cigarettes, replacing packaging bearing the trade dress that differentiates such products. However, strict regulations limiting the use of trade dress by rights holders already apply to such products and the proposals go beyond these regulations.

18 September 2015

While the current system for dealing with counterfeits is, by and large, very effective, new proposals relating to border measures have been cause for concern. Among other things, Articles 534 to 537 of the <I>Código del Conocimiento</I> apply only to the “counterfeiting of trademarks”, which would exclude all other rights and, importantly, imitations. Moreover, there is no reference to mechanisms for notifying brand owners that a suspected shipment has been detected.

09 July 2015

Presidential Decree No 522 has amended the Regulations for the Application of the Law on the Import, Commercialisation and Sale of Generic Medicines for Human Use. The new rules alter the use of trademarks in relation to patented medicines upon expiry of the patent. It is understood that, although the medicines may bear a trademark, under the new rules the labelling must primarily feature the ICD and the designation ‘<I>Medicamento Genérico</I>’.

08 June 2015

The name Montecristi, which refers to an area of Ecuador synonymous with the production of high-quality, hand-woven Panama hats, has become the first Ecuadorian denomination of origin to be recognized and protected by the Ecuadorian Institute of Intellectual Property. It is hoped that protection as a denomination of origin will help to deter foreign competitors from using the name Montecristi on lower-quality hats.

04 April 2007

The Ecuadorian Intellectual Property Office has for the first time granted protection to unregistered product packaging trade dress against confusingly similar packaging for the same type of product. However, it has emerged recently that an appeal decision in the case may not come out for several years.

15 November 2006

The Ecuadorian IP community has called for a conference to review the definition of 'legitimate interest' used by the Ecuadorian Trademark Office in the context of opposition proceedings. For about a year now, the office has severely limited the scope of what constitutes legitimate interest in oppositions, rejecting any opposition based on grounds other than confusion, association or dilution.

05 May 2006