If you are expanding your business to Latin America and you are wondering how to register a trademark in all of the region, keep reading.
Is there a Latin America trademarks registry?
Unfortunately, there is no possibility of registering a single trademark which provides protection in all Latin American countries. As a consequence, it is necessary to seek protection in each country of interest, due to the territoriality principle. If you need advice, contact us.
The principle of territoriality for trademark registration throughout Latin America
It is important for you to know that the principle of territoriality governs trademark law. This means that the owner of a trademark will be able to enjoy all the legal protection for his brand in each country where he protects it, independently to other countries.
Benefits of the Paris Convention
Although it is not possible to request the registration of a trademark in all of Latin America at once, the Paris Protocol grants a great benefit for the protection of trademarks in several countries. This treaty establishes that if a person files a trademark application in a member country of the agreement and is interested in filing the same application in another member country, he will have the right to request a priority certificate.
The receiving Office of the first request will be the one that issues the corresponding certificate. With that certificate, the applicant may submit a new application in any other member country with the date of the first filing. Keep in mind that the second filing must be made within six (6) months of submitting the first one.
Notwithstanding the above mentioned, Priority Rights and certificate will not be necessary or essential. This, due to the fact that in some cases there won’t exist trademarks filed or registered that may impide the trademark registration.
Benefits of the Madrid Protocol
Although there is no way to register a trademark in order to protect your trademark in all Latin America’s countries at once, the Madrid Protocol offers trademark holders in member countries of the Protocol another good alternative.
Nationals of member countries of the Madrid Protocol have the benefit of filing international trademark applications. This means it is possible to present a single application in a single language for several member countries of the Protocol at the same time. As a consequence, it is possible to save translation costs and fees through a single request, but take into account that national offices will make the final decision, under the principle of territoriality.
Conclusions to register a trademark throughout Latin America
It is not possible to register a trademark in all of Latin America with a single application. As a consequence, businesses will have to seek for protection in each of the countries of interest.
However, at Legal Core Group we register trademark in ALL LATIN AMERICA countries. If you are looking to expand your business to this region, you can ask us for a quote to register your trademarks in this region.
