Our practice encompasses services relating to trademark protection together with the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office. It also includes management of domestic and international portfolios, strategic legal advice, infringement watch, as well as trademark litigation, company names, Internet domains and trade dress.
We believe we can offer the best strategic analysis of Intellectual Property rights because of our broad experience in litigation and our team of specialists in this area. We are able to establish, acquire and protect these rights, avoiding excess costs and drawing up lawsuits, when necessary.
What is a Trademark?
In Brazil, a trademark is a distinctive sign visually perceptive, divided in 3 main categories:
Product/Service – identifies products or services that distinguish themselves from others;
Certification – attests to the conformity of a product/service to specific norms or technical specifications;
Collective – identifies products/services originated from members of a specific entity.
They can still be classified as to their form:
Word – composed of a name/text;
Device – composed of only a figure/image;
Word & Device – composed of a name/text with an image or graphic connotation;
Tridimensional – composed of a specific 3D format;
Position – formed by the use of a trademark in an exclusive position of/on a determined object.
Validity: 10 years from the granting registration date, with the possibility of renewal, successively, every 10 years (eternally), upon the last year of its validity.
Services:
- Consultancy and strategic legal advice;
- Trademark availability search;
- Application and monitoring of application, nationally and internationally;
- Portfolio acquisition and auditing;
- Trademark licensing and ownership transfer contracts;
- Dispute resolutions involving trademarks and domain names, nationally and internationally;
- Administrative and judicial litigation of trademark abroad;
- Trademark litigation before the State and Federal Courts;
- Infringement watch by third parties; and
- Trademark watch in accordance with the Brazilian PTO granting.
INPI – National Institute of Industrial Property, or the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office is the government agency responsible for the examination and registration of trademarks in Brazil. Their headquarters are in Rio de Janeiro.
Brazil joined the Madrid Protocol on June 25th, 2019, which then came into effect on October 2nd of the same year. Through this Protocol, domestic companies are able to register their trademarks simultaneously in 122 countries, simplifying the process, since the system uses a single language and currency, thus reducing costs.
Therefore, owners of international trademarks can choose the countries in which they wish to protect their trademark. A simplified filing procedure and more agile examination of the corresponding applications according to the legislation of each jurisdiction makes for a deadline of 18 months (except when the deadline is interrupted by an official demand and/or legal suspension).