Newsletter - Latin America IP SME Helpdesk

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From Tuesday 21st June to Thursday 23rd June 2022, the 4th Export Fair of Flanders Investment & Trade will once again take place live in Hall 1 of Brussels Expo. The representatives of the Latin America IP SME Helpdesk will be present during the event to meet EU SMEs and present our project and free services to boost internationalisation as well as for IP management & protection.

The training ''IP in the fashion industry in Latin America and India'' is organised and carried out jointly with the India IP SME Helpdesk, and will take place the next 8th of July, at 16.30, during the free-of-charge matchmaking event B2WORTH@TorinoFashionMatch 2022 (7-9 July 2022). This event will gather companies, buyers, retailers, suppliers, experts and investors dealing with the TEXTILE|FASHION|DESIGN sectors from a large number of European countries.

In Brazil, trade marks are territorial, which means that distinctive signs are only protected after being successfully registered before the Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial (INPI). Before operating in the Brazilian market, and especially before registering a trade mark in the country, we recommend that you check specialised databases in order to ensure that the trade mark you are intending to use or register in the relevant territory is available. Failure to do so may lead to trade mark infringement or rejection of a trade mark application due to a pre-existing similar trade mark.

Most companies use secrecy to protect their intangibles from competitors. Lists of customers, the secret ingredient of a recipe, the optimum proportion of a mixture or certain techniques implemented by employees are examples of trade secrets. The Brazilian law does not have a specific definition for trade secrets. The former Brazilian IP law made a generic reference to ‘confidential business information’ and ‘confidential industrial information’ while the current IP law broadened the definition of confidential information to include ‘confidential knowledge, information or data, usable in industry, commerce or the provision of services’.

The agreement focuses on the cooperation between member countries to preserve their geographical identities, which are intellectual property markers that demonstrate the origin and certify the quality of products. For instance, this agreement forbids geographical indications from being registered as trade marks, unless the trade mark was applied before the mutual protection.

The meeting also addressed the implementation of the new AL-INVEST project, which seeks to achieve greater use and effectiveness of IP rights, particularly in Mercosur countries, to boost research cooperation opportunities and stimulate competitiveness and innovation within a framework of sustainable development, including “green” innovation.

The Helpline service provides first-line assistance on Intellectual Property protection and IP rights enforcement in Latin America. All questions sent through this service will receive a tailor-made answer by our IP experts or it will be signposted to appropriate organisations within no more than 3 working days.