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COLOMBIA | Trademarks | Colombia’s Council of State reiterates modifications in its jurisprudence: trademark invalidity actions based on relative prohibitions can be withdrawn
On 20 October 2017, the Council of State -CS- (Colombia’s Supreme Court for reviewing administrative acts) reiterated that trademark invalidity actions based on Andean Decision 486′ Article 136 relative prohibitions -for example, trademark registration applications resembling trademarks requested or registered by a third party- can be withdrawn.
During the last years, the CS stated in its jurisprudence that it was not possible to accept withdrawal of such annulments, since not only interests of the affected third party must be considered, but especially those of the consumers and its competitors.
However, during the last months -and by joint pronouncement of the different Magistrates of the CS Section that decides on industrial property matters- it was considered that the “interpretative criterion” (applied at the beginning of the 2000’s) accepting the withdrawal of this type of invalidity actions must be resumed, since the purpose of these lawsuits is to controvert the legality of a trademark registration ignoring the subjective right of a third party, translated into a particular and concrete (and not general) interest.
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COLOMBIA | Regulatory | Colombia: there are already companies with all permits and licenses to produce medicinal Cannabis
On 19 october 2017, the Government of Colombia granted to CannaVida (a Colombian-Canadian company) the last necessary license to begin crop, production, distribution and exportation of medicinal cannabis oil. The above makes said company in one of the firsts with all necessary licenses and permits to produce Cannabis and products derived from it.
Commercialization of the first cannabis products for medicinal use in Colombia is expected to begin in the next months.
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ARGENTINA | Plant Variety Protection, Regulatory | Argentine Congress resumes discussion on proposed amendment to the Seeds Law
On mid-October 2017, the Congress of Argentina resumed the discussion of the bill through which it is intended to amend the current Seeds Law.
Currently, the guidelines of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) of 1978 are in force in Argentina. However, modifications are intended to attract foreign investment and innovations in the agricultural sector of that country.
The most recent action is related to the Agriculture Committee of the Argentine Congress, which convened a meeting in which opinions of different advisers and sectors were heard.
COLOMBIA | Regulatory | Ministry of Health of Colombia publishes Draft Decree on sanitary procedures for food importation and exportation
On 25 October 2017, the Ministry of Health of Colombia published a Draft Decree which -if approved- will regulate sanitary procedures for import and export of food, raw material and secondary ingredients for food intended for human consumption. The decree also pronounces on the authorization and certification of food factories located abroad.
Comments and observations may be submitted until 8 November 2017. For more information, visit the following link.
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PERU | Intellectual Property | Peruvian Patent and Trademark Office and Judicial Branch starts program for sharing judicial records on digital
On 20 October 2017, the Patent and Trademark Office of Peru (INDECOPI in Spanish) and the Judicial Branch of that country started a program for sharing judicial records on digital.
For now, the program is limited to the Contentious Administrative Judicial Courts, which which have jurisdiction over the lawsuits of which INDECOPI is a party.
COLOMBIA | Compliance | Colombian Congress will discuss Bills with new measures against corruption
The Colombian Congress is currently discussing two bills through which aims to improve the existing anti-corruption regulations in the country.
On one hand, Law Project 005 of 2017 aims to adopt new criminal law measures against corruption. The bill is relevant since it aims to generate coherence of the Colombian norms on the matter with international instruments promoting measures against corruption, as well as adopting specific measures focused on political campaigns, public procurement processes, duty of denunciation of facts associated with corruption, concealment and destruction of evidence, among others.
At the same time, Bill 084 of 2016 is also discussed. If approved, measures to strengthen public procurement in Colombia will be adopted, modifying aspects of public procurement processes as a guarantee of transparency.
The projects are under discussion -and if approved-, will reinforce existing legislation in the country on anti-corruption issues.
