Articles

The past couple of years have seen some major developments in how Brazilian courts interpret and enforce trademark law at all levels. This article reviews some of the latest changes related to protection for non-traditional trademarks, the special rule for determining jurisdiction in trademark infringement cases and the administrative seizure of counterfeits by Customs.

The 1996 Brazilian Industrial Property Act (9,279/96) establishes a mixed trademark protection system by which an attributive arrangement grants first-to-file protection rights along with some declaratory system exceptions, such as *bona fide* six-month prior use of an unregistered trademark. Despite general satisfaction with this system, it is a fact that the law admits only the registration of visual-perceptive signs as trademarks (Section 122).

However, this limitation does not mean that non-visual signs which function as trademarks are bereft of protection. The Industrial Property Act sets out a so-called ‘gen

The growth of the Brazilian market and economy is paralleled by the increase in counterfeiting activities. The enforcement of IP rights involves planning, technology, intelligence, training and coordination, with support from a number of laws and treaties, as well as the relevant rules of the Federal Constitution, the Civil Code, the Criminal Code, the Civil Procedure Code, the Criminal Procedure Code and administrative statutory instruments.

The legal framework for anti-counterfeiting includes:

• the Industrial Property Law (9,279/96);

• the Copyright Law (9,610/98); and

• the Software Law (9,609/98).

In addition, Brazil is a signatory to the main international IP instruments, such as:

• the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (as reviewed in Stockholm in 1967);

• the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of IP Rights (TRIPs);

• the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artisti

Despite being usually seen as comparable parts of the BRICs , the emerging economies of China and Brazil have more differences than similarities, not to mention the countries’ historic and cultural backgrounds. Ever since the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO), China has impressed the world with very good indicators: substantial and steady increase in its GDP, relevant internal market, increasing participation in global trade, impressive rates of innovation and an environment that is globally much welcoming to foreign investment. Brazil, on its side, has managed to surpass economic chaos caused by hyperinflation in the beginning of the 1990s and to create a market that is both friendly to foreign investments and strongly responsive to its internal demands, after years of economic stagnancy. Both countries are heralded as strong healthy economies, with a good share of natural resources and good perspectives for the future. On the verge of organizing two major sports events in the window of two

Despite being usually seen as comparable parts of the BRICs , the emerging economies of China and Brazil have more differences than similarities, not to mention the countries’ historic and cultural backgrounds. Ever since the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO), China has impressed the world with very good indicators: substantial and steady increase in its GDP, relevant internal market, increasing participation in global trade, impressive rates of innovation and an environment that is globally much welcoming to foreign investment. Brazil, on its side, has managed to surpass economic chaos caused by hyperinflation in the beginning of the 1990s and to create a market that is both friendly to foreign investments and strongly responsive to its internal demands, after years of economic stagnancy. Both countries are heralded as strong healthy economies, with a good share of natural resources and good perspectives for the future. On the verge of organizing two major sports events in the window of two

Despite being usually seen as comparable parts of the BRICs , the emerging economies of China and Brazil have more differences than similarities, not to mention the countries’ historic and cultural backgrounds. Ever since the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO), China has impressed the world with very good indicators: substantial and steady increase in its GDP, relevant internal market, increasing participation in global trade, impressive rates of innovation and an environment that is globally much welcoming to foreign investment. Brazil, on its side, has managed to surpass economic chaos caused by hyperinflation in the beginning of the 1990s and to create a market that is both friendly to foreign investments and strongly responsive to its internal demands, after years of economic stagnancy. Both countries are heralded as strong healthy economies, with a good share of natural resources and good perspectives for the future. On the verge of organizing two major sports events in the window of two

1 What are the principal statutes regulating advertising generally?

The legal basis for the provision of advertisement regulation is set forth by the 1988 Brazilian Constitution, which determines that the law will provide for special rules on the advertising of products and services that may offer health and environmental risks, such as tobacco, alcohol and medicines (section 220, paragraph 3, II, and paragraph 4).

Revista Marcasur. Suplemento Brasil Al Día. Março, 2014.

La inseguridad jurídica que existe en Brasil es tanta que un dicho burlesco dice que “en Brasil hasta el pasado es incierto”. Un ejemplo de reciente conducta del Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial (INPI) que generó perplejidad fue la presentación de acciones de nulidad de las patentes mailbox.

The Convention on Biological Diversity, signed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, back in 1992, established that genetic resources should no longer be considered as a heritage of the Humanity, but rather that each country should have sovereignty over its own resources.

Brazil has signed the Convention in 1992, such International Treaty having been ratified in Brazil by means of Decree No. 2,519 of March 16, 1998. However, it was only in 2000 that a legislation regulating the access to Brazilian genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge was enacted.

Particularly, in compliance with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), more specifically, its articles 1, 8, letter “j”, 10 letter “c”, 15 and 16 items 3 and 4, Provisional Ruling 2,186-16/01, still in full force, was enacted to regulate the access to, and use of, genetic heritage and associated traditional knowledge (TK) in the Brazilian territory, the fair and

les Nouvelles – Journal of The Licensing Executives Society International.

INTRODUCTION

Global energy demand continues to increase, with major developing countries acting as the main driving force behind such rise. However, the world energy balance is still highly dependent on the finite source of fossil fuels, which is considered to be the major responsible for atmosphere pollution in big cities. Furthermore, the long term consequences of the use of these non-renewable fuel sources are still unknown. Global warming, for example, is pointed out to be one of its most undesirable effects.

In this scenario, the need to diversify the energy matrix using more renewable energy sources has become urgent. One of the most triumphant clean energy sources that has been developed in the last years is wind power. The installed wind power capacity is increasing significantly worldwide as well as its importance to the