Intellectual Rights 22

The paper discusses the protection of the so-called works of applied art (also known as utilitarian works of art) through copyrights, under the Brazilian legal framework. After an introduction of the controversies around this issue, the authors discuss the relevant provisions of the Berne Convention, the Brazilian Industrial Property Act (Law #9,279/1996) and the Copyrights Act (Law #9,610/1998). The authors also sum up some relevant decisions on the issue rendered by Brazilian Courts. Afterwards, they present their opinion on the controversy.

Grupo Editorial Patria S.A. de C.V. owner of the the copyrights over Algebra Baldor, maintains a constant vigilance in the main countries in which it distributes and commercializes the book. This mechanism helps to identify infringers and act against them. In Ecuador, by administrative procedure named administrative tutelage they presented actions against Correo Editores S.A. as principal infringer, and Imprenta Don Bosco for facilitating its printing services. The unlawful appropriation of intellectual and industrial property rights ended with several administrative sanctions and petitions.

Colombian private television broadcast stations, RCN and Caracol, currently hold a dispute against subscription television operators. The television stations consider that it is necessary to obtain a previous and express consent to retransmit their signals.

In Chile, a new regulation on labeling, packaging and advertising has been issued for food that is high in sodium, sugars or saturated fats, also known as “junk foods”, intended to be consumed by children under 14 years old. This law has generated great controversy for its impact on trademarks, the difficulties to publicize this type of products and the responsibility that for its non-compliance can be predicated of all the actors in the economic chain, from the elaboration of the product until their arrival to the final consumer.

O objetivo dos autores com o presente trabalho é o de apresentar algumas questões atinentes à transmissão de shows ao vivo, em tempo real, sob a perspectiva brasileira, abordando a necessidade de obtenção das autorizações e licenças de direitos dos respectivos titulares para garantir a sua legalidade.

The objective of the authors with the present work is to analyze some issues related to the transmission of live music shows, in real time, from the Brazilian perspective, addressing the need to obtain the authorizations and licenses of the respective rightholders to ensure their legality.

With an illustrative explanation of two current scenarios where real live shows are broadcasted through streaming technology in simulcasting and webcasting modalities, the authors comment the recent decisions of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) of Brazil, which recognized the existence of public execution of musical works in this cases and the possibility of collection by the Central Office of Collection and Distribution (ECAD) of the respective rights.  The authors do not intend to exhaust the subject, which is extensive, and even less discuss the modalities available to broadcast any media content through online tools or by social networks because due to the complexity of the matter a specific study would be required.

In most countries it is accepted that freedom of expression may limit the scope of protection of trade secrets. In the European Union there are express rules in this regard, in the United States the issue has been dealt with on a case-by-case basis and in Colombia, although no cases have been filed, this rule can be deduced from the importance given by jurisprudence to freedom of expression.

The document is a compilation, organization and analysis of information related to copyright law and practice in 21 countries of the Americas.

In this paper we will present parameters for the comparative analysis of trademarks in their phonetic dimension. In the first part, as conceptual framework, general notions of phonology and phonetics are introduced, which are later applied in a critical jurisprudential analysis of relevant decisions from Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru. To complement the scope of this investigation, in the third part we discuss the need to unify criteria of appreciation of trademarks with foreign phonetics. Thus, this work aims to provide tools for the argumentation and grounding of trademarks phonetic comparison and, along with it, emphasizes the need to adopt a unique model of trademark comparison based on the science of signs: semiotics or semiology. A methodology in this sense would strengthen the reasoning for litigants, administrative and judicial authorities regarding the risk of confusion, avoiding that the comparison of trademarks falls into mere subjectivity.