Brazil points out advances in IP Protection to the US Government

intellectual property

The Brazilian National Industry Confederation (CNI) and the American Chamber of Commerce in Brazil (Amcham) has recently presented a report to the U.S. Government defending the removal of Brazil from the “Watch List” of Special 301 Report. The annual report, prepared by the Office of the United States Trade Representative, analyzes the status of intellectual property protection and enforcement in U.S. trading partners around the world.

Although recognizing that Brazil had took steps in 2018 to address several issues related to Brazil’s intellectual property (IP) enforcement activities, the 2019 report kept Brazil on the U.S. “Watch List”.

intellectual propertyThe document sent now by the CNI and Amcham has highlighted the advances made by Brazil throughout 2019, among then the announcement of the Plan of Action against patent backlog, which aims to reduce the delay on the analysis of patents, the approval of the adhesion to Madrid Protocol, which will allow applicants to register trademarks in 102 signatory countries through Brazilian Trademark and Patent Office, and a National Plan to Combat Piracy – a important concern mentioned on the 2019 Report.

CNI and Amcham believes that Brazil and United Stated are strengthening its relations and this is an important opportunity to point Brazil’s advances on intellectual property protection and enforcement.

The removal of Brazil from the Special 301 Report “Watch List” could be an important message to investors since, as the 2019 itself remarks, a strong intellectual property protection provides a critical incentive for businesses to invest in future innovation in Brazil.

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Lawyer Author of the Comment: Pedro Eurico de Souza Cruz Teixeira

Source

Headline: CNI e Amcham pedem que EUA tirem do Brasil status negativo em propriedade intelectual

“If you want to learn more about this topic, contact the author or the managing partner, Dr. Cesar Peduti Filho.”
“Se quiser saber mais sobre este tema, contate o autor ou o Dr. Cesar Peduti Filho.”

Secondary Meaning

It is important to understand the concept of the Spectrum of Distinctiveness to understand the concept of secondary meaning. The Spectrum of Distinctiveness describe the strength of the trademarks. They can be categorized on the Spectrum of Distinctiveness as following 

a. Fanciful trademarks consist of made up terms that have no relation to the goods being described;

b. Arbitrary trademarks consist of existing terms that contribute no meaning to the goods being described;

c. Suggestive trademarks consist of terms that suggest meaning or relation but that do not describe the goods themselves;

d. Descriptive trademarks consist of terms that describe either the goods or a characteristic of the goods. Often it is very difficult to enforce trademark rights for descriptive trademarks unless the trademark has acquired a secondary meaning;

e. Generic Terms consist of terms that are the accepted and recognized description of a class of goods or services. Generic terms cannot be protected;

A descriptive trademark may be protected only where the descriptive trademark has acquired secondary meaning and when the word taken as a trademark already has a meaning in its language. However, a generic trademark, would be unregistrable when the meaning has to do with the product or service itself.

The Brazilian Courts see secondary meaning as a semantic process in which the characteristic feature of certain trademark acquires a meaning not previously settled by the society. And, unlike some countries, in Brazil it is up to the judiciary to analyze and decide on the recognition of a sign with secondary meaning.

Basically, when a weak trademark is recognized with a meaning beyond the direct and original meaning (a second meaning – secondary meaning), it can become a strong trademark. This occurs with the continuous and massive use of a certain expression by a certain producer or service provider.

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Lawyer Author of the Comment: Laís Iamauchi de Araujo
Source 1 , Source 2

Headline: Secondary Meaning

“If you want to learn more about this topic, contact the author or the managing partner, Dr. Cesar Peduti Filho.”
“Se quiser saber mais sobre este tema, contate o autor ou o Dr. Cesar Peduti Filho.”