Intellectual Rights 21

The article studies in general terms if culinary creations, particularly the food presentation, can be effectively protected like works of art within the scope of the intellectual property. This article particularly emphasizes if this kind of works can be classified as art, which would be the object of protection and which would be the alternative mechanisms that could be used by the owner of a culinary creation in order to protect their rights.

Traditional music has long had a leading role in the global economy. The diffent players that conform the value chain, from development to publication of works, performances and productions, have coexisted with traditional marketing schemes. However, this reality has changed with the emergence of new streaming platforms that massify access to content and facilitate unauthorized use of it. In response, rights holders call for a balance in the economic systems of participation, and laws that are appropriate to the new forms of distribution and consumption of creative content.

This article analyzes the new configuration of the trademark system of the European Union that took effect in March 2016, emphasizing the main changes introduced and its consequences.

Decision 486 of the Andean Community expressly establishes that a smell could be registered as a trademark. However, the application of the registrability requirements regarding this kind of signs, specifically related to its distinctiveness and the ability for being represented graphically has not been peaceful. Under this scenario, the following article proposes an analysis of the trademark applications for olfa ory signs that have been filed before the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce to the date, in which the rulings have been different and even opposite, with the aim of creating solutions so smells could be really subject to registration as trademarks.

The Andean proceeding of cancellation of a trademark is not expressly regulated in Decision 486 as it is the Andean proceeding of opposition; however, the Andean Court of Justice in its case law on cancellation as a defense in opposition proceedings, interpreted that if the cancellation action is filed timely, the authority must decide the procedure of registrability considering the outcome of the cancellation. If this is so, then the proceeding of Andean opposition should be temporarily suspended until a judgement of the Andean cancellation action filed in another member country is reached.

The draft of Ecuador’s Code for the Social Economy of Knowledge, Creativity and Innovation (COESC) aims at achieving that all creative and innovate works that obtains protection of intellectual property rights be available to the public without payment of any compensation, situation which, according to the auther, is illegal, unfeasable, and especially unfair to those who invest time and resources in generating knowledge and culture.

The purpose of this study is to establish some basis for the proper regulation of intellectual property in Paraguayan universities.

In this article we will discuss the draft of the Uniform Bill of Intellectual Property for South and Latin America, addressing all the treaties, and agreements already approved that have become uniform agreements, such as the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, the Nice Classification, the model laws for developing countries, etc. We will conclude with a list of the issues to be addressed by the draft bill, such as the patents, trademarks and the administrative proceedings.

This article deals with the “cultural patrimony” of the Dominican Republic, its origins as well as the laws that regulate the ownership, importation, exportation, and alteration of monuments considered part of the same. The Dominican Republic has enacted laws and is a member of the most important international conventions that deal with “cultural patrimony”. However, the implementation of these laws has not been optimal. It is also time for the present legislation to be updated. A draft of a bill aimed at the modernization of the branch of the law hat refers to our “cultural patrimony” is in the works and should be converted into law in the near future. We are offering comments and recommendations for the proposed new law.

This article critiques decisions of the United States Trademark Trial and Appeal Board and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit invoking the “doctrine of foreign equivalents” and inquires how well the doctrine addresses trademarks consisting of or containing Spanish language terms. Under the doctrine as applied by USPTO examiners, the Board and the Court of Appeals, for purposes of genericness, descriptiveness, and likelihood of confusion analysis, foreign words from common, modern languages are translated into English to determine similarity of connotation with English words, when an ordinary American purchaser familiar with the foreign language would “stop and translate” the word into its English equivalent.

Intended as a guideline, the doctrine has been so mechanically and inconsistently applied as to be worse than no guideline at all, leading to decisions impacting Spanish language trademarks which disregard the sociolinguistic landscape of contemporary bilingual America and are out of step with rapidly evolving Hispanic consumer culture in the United States.The author advocates abolishing the doctrine. U.S. trademark law principles of general application—without the doctrine—can well protect Hispanic consumers from anti-competitive attempts to monopolize Spanish generic or descriptive wording, and can produce more coherent likelihood of confusion decisions in relative examination, oppositions, cancellations, and infringement lawsuits.

With the signing of the Free Trade Agreement it is anticipated that the number of US franchises in Colombia will significantly increase. These franchises are international sign-up contracts that are not sufficiently regulated and that may cause problems in areas such as civil liability and intellectual property law.