Latin America and Caribbean

Brazil's legal system provides several options for IP owners to enforce their rights. Trade dress protection is not expressly foreseen in our law but falls within general unfair competition rules which basically forbid competitors to fraudulently divert third parties' clientele.

Amid the massive public health crisis caused by the fear of the spread of COVID-19, economies and societies around the world are facing hardship, with entire businesses brought to a sudden halt.

On October 2 2019, Brazil joined the Madrid protocol. The success of this can be proven by numbers.

The Brazilian PTO celebrated a remarkable achievement at the beginning of the new year. In just four months, the office managed to reduce the patent backlog by 14%. Further important milestones towards eliminating the backlog for good are expected to be reached throughout the year, as the office intends to reduce the backlog by 80% by 2021. This was all possible due to a pioneer project called the Preliminary Standardized Office Action Program, implemented in September 2019. Once the project is successfully completed, the PTO estimates it will take under 24 months to examine new applications.

Eduardo Kleinberg and Santiago Zubikarai of Basham evaluate the new industrial property legislation under consideration in Mexico, assessing changes to the law on damages, fines, the registration of trademarks and patents

Brazilian IP law believes that renowned marks deserve special protection in all fields of activity. Differently from well-known marks, which are protected within their field of activity and regardless of the existence of a local registration, renowned marks must be registered and then go through a specific proceeding at the BPTO for a declaration of high renown which will be valid for 10 years.