19/05/22 – IP&T
Until June 3, companies, organizations in the productive sector, unions and business associations from any region of the country, individually or in groups that have identified a sophistication and/or technological development project, may participate in the SENAInnova call: Productivity for companies.
SENAInnova is a program created by SENA and Colombia Productiva with available resources of up to 18,000 million COP to co-finance between 45 and 90 projects.
For the co-financing of proposals, the program will prioritize projects that include digital transformation projects, bioeconomy projects, green businesses and agricultural sophistication.
Those who want to participate must register and upload their proposals on the following platform: https://colombiaproductiva.force.com/proyectosdecofinacion/s/login
19/05/22 – Andean Community – Trademarks
Three-dimensional trademarks are those that consist of a body with volume, understood as the shape of the products, their packaging, and/or wrapping, which have three dimensions (height, length, and width), capable of being associated with a specific business origin. On May 6th, 2022, the Andean Community Court of Justice issued a Preliminary Interpretation through which certain registrability rules for this type of trademark were established.
As a result, the analysis must exclude: i) the usual shape of products intended to be protected; ii) the essential or necessary shapes concerning the products; and, iii) the labeling. If the exclusion of the above leads to the reduction of the trademark transforming its analysis into ineffective, it must be done by gathering all the trademark elements.
Therefore, the registrability analysis should focus on elements that provide enough distinctiveness to the trademark, since the shape on its own must allow consumers to identify the business origin. Otherwise, other elements such as words and/or graphic symbols shall be considered as part of a three-dimensional trademark creation.
19/05/22 – Patent Litigation
On May 13th, 2022, the ACJ published the Prejudicial Interpretation No. 15-IP-2020, developing interpretive legal criteria regarding the infringement of IP rights when there is a prior contractual relationship between the parties. The ACJ clarified that the Judge knowing a case of IP infringement has subject-matter jurisdiction to determine or decide on the validity of a previous agreement between the parties, in order to confirm whether it is an infringement situation.
Additionally, it stated that the validity or effectiveness of a contractual relationship between the parties must be assessed to determine if there is an IP infringement. It is clear for the ACJ that if the contract expires or, for whatever reason, its effects cease, then whoever uses the IP right is no longer a licensee and, there would be an infringement scenario if the former licensee continues exploiting the IP right despite the ineffectiveness of the agreement.
