Region: Latin America & Caribbean

In Aguilar v Distribuidora de Impresos y Artes Gráficas Ltda, a NIC Chile panellist has amended her earlier decision ordering the transfer of 'pokemon.cl' to a third party - Nintendo. NIC Chile requested the amendment because Nintendo had failed to file a formal opposition to the registration. Nevertheless, the panellist refused to order the transfer of the domain name to either Aguilar or Artes Gráficas.

02 May 2003

In <i>Nortox Agroquimica SA v Nortox SRL </i>the Federal Court of Appeal has affirmed a lower court's decision to grant the plaintiff's request for (i) a recovery order that transfers the Argentine registration of the mark NORTOX from the defendant to the plaintiff, and (ii) an order cancelling the defendant's trademark and company name registrations.

29 April 2003

The Exchange Administration Commission has stated that local companies that must acquire foreign exchange to comply with their licence obligations should provide proof that their licence agreements have been duly registered. This announcement was made in response to the government's new exchange controls prohibiting the sale of foreign currency.

14 April 2003

In <i>Viasat Inc v Sociedad Telefónica SA</i>, the Trademark Office has permitted Viasat's opposition to Telefónica's application to register 'Viasat Corporativo' as a trademark in Colombia on the grounds that Viasat had already applied to register the same mark in another signatory state to the Paris Convention.

03 April 2003

In a landmark ruling in <i>Calipso Bay Arrendamento de Marcas Ltda v VIPI Modas Ltda</i>, the Court of Appeals of the State of Goiás has confirmed a lower court's decision that the defendant's use of the plaintiff's trade dress constitutes 'unfair competition' as defined and prohibited by the Industrial Property Law.

01 April 2003

In the very near future, the Mexican Supreme Court will settle an important split among the federal circuit courts. It will decide whether the civil courts may award economic damages for industrial property right infringement before the Institute of Industrial Property has issued an administrative declaration penalizing the infringer.

24 March 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

The Colombian Patent and Trademark Office has issued a notice which clarifies exactly when industrial property rights are granted. Such rights, which include trademark rights, are granted when the PTO issues a resolution permitting registration, not when the certificate of registration is granted many months later.

13 March 2003

In a case concerning the registration of a trademark by Fiat Auto SpA, the appellate body of the Colombian Trademark Office has held that the marks JTS and CTS, both used in relation to automobiles, are not confusingly similar.

03 March 2003

The Colombian Trademark Office has reversed its earlier decision not to allow the registration of 'cool water' as a trademark with respect to perfume, cologne and aftershave because of the words' descriptive nature. Upon reconsideration, it concluded that consumers would not associate the mark with the products' characteristics.

24 February 2003