Recently, the Bogota Court of Appeal reaffirmed that the plaintiff of a trademark infringement should not mention the nature or the amount of the damage for which compensation is claimed.
Damage amounts in intellectual property disputes can often be difficult to quantify, especially if the plaintiff must provide a specific value to the loss of a trademark’s distinctiveness or depreciation of goodwill associated with the trademark. As a solution, colombian law allows the courts to award “statutory” damages where the plaintiff is unable to provide evidence of the specific loss suffered.
The position of the Court of Appeal benefits trademark owners and enhances their prospect of an expedited resolution of their infringement cases, as many trial courts denied the claims considering that the plaintiff must specify and prove the number of damages pursued in court.
Original source in Spanish.
