- People’s names
- Names and visible figures, sufficiently distinctive.
- Bottles, containers, packaging.
- Distinctive gift boxes.
- Trade names and corporate names.
- Acronyms, initials.
TRADEMARKS
What can be registered as a trademark?
How is the process of registration of a trademark in Argentina?
REQUIREMENTS FOR TRADEMARK REGISTRATION IN ARGENTINA
Data of the natural person, business or corporation.
Trademark to be protected with its logotype or isotype.
Products and/or services to distinguish
BENEFITS OF REGISTERING YOUR TRADEMARKS IN ARGENTINA
The brand is the image of your company. It is the distinctive sign that identifies and differentiates products and services and by individualizing them, consumers are able to choose them in the market.
Registering and preserving the mark is your right and obligation as an entrepreneur. This will give you greater security in commercial transactions with customers and suppliers.
As the brand gains prestige and reputation, it becomes a valuable intangible asset to its owner.
The differentiating role made by the brand protects the formation and consolidation of the clientele, apart from preventing the clientele from being cheated.
MAIN ADVANTAGES OF A TRADEMARK
- Protection of your image and business reputation
- Exclusive right to use it nationwide
- Consumers’ trust
- More customers, more profits
- Right to start legal actions
- Protects your priority of registration of the mark in other countries
- Allows you to restrict the import of goods bearing infringing marks
- Possibility of licensing
- Possibility of charging royalties
- Possibility of franchising your product or service
- Ability to assign the rights on your mark
- Ability to use your mark as collateral for a loan
- Right to file oppositions in case of likelihood of confusion with other marks
Remember that the law protects only those who have the trademark, and there is only one owner:
"THE FIRST THAT STARTS THE PROCESS"
A trademark is the one that has been granted in favor of a natural or legal company, Argentina or foreign, by the National Trademark National Institute of Industrial Property ( I.N.P.I. ) .
The registration of a trademark grants its owner the exclusive use for 10 years and may be renewed before its expiration for consecutive periods of 10 years and indefinitely.
PATENTS
What is a patent?
A patent is an exclusive right granted to the inventor by the State, and in exchange for this, the inventor has to give society the outcome of his research. The application for the registration of patents is published 18 months after the application date so that it does not remain secret and becomes known to the public.
The exclusive right of the patent is granted for a 20-year period, during which the holder can prevent third parties from exploiting his invention.
After that time , the patent becomes public domain, this means that anyone can use it without having to pay royalties to the patent holder .
What is it for?
To exercise the exclusive right of the invention for the term that agrees the law, and can prevent third parties without your consent the acts of making , using, offering for sale, selling or importing the patented product or process.
REQUIREMENTS OF A PATENT
Patent law provides in art . 4th the three basic requirements to be met by an invention to be patentable : absolute novelty , inventive step and industrial application.
Absolute novelty: it means that the object of the invention to patent should not be included within the known state of the art, understanding the art the body of technical knowledge that has been made public both at home and in the rest of the world, before the date of filing of the application in question.
Inventive: There inventive activity when the creative process or its results are not deducted from prior art as apparent to a person skilled in the technical field. This means that if the invention is a combination of known elements with predictable result, it lacks inventive step since the end result being accessed is known for any person skilled midlevel.
Industrial Application: There will be industrial application when the object of the invention leads to obtaining a result or an industrial product, meaning industry anything capable of being manufactured or applied in series or industrial scale, as opposed to artwork, for example, which is unique and unrepeatable.
A patent may be an object, a process, a gadget, a machine, a chemical compound, a use of a chemical compound, a microorganism, etc.
In all cases, a patent must meet the three requirements for patentability:
- novelty
- inventive
- industrial application.
How long is application?
From application to conceded of a patent or utility model it lasts about 5 years on average, depending on the technical area to which the invention relates.
Once I submit the application, I can already sell it?
Yes, but running the risk of being sued. This is because the ANP can not be verified at the time of filing, that the invention is absolute novelty, but that opinion is made in the instance of the substantive examination.
A patent once conceded, must pay any tax?
Yes, once the patent is granted, payable annuities for maintenance, and so not lose the validity of the patent
UTILITY MODEL
A utility model is granted only to a provision or new form obtained or introduced in tools, work instruments, utensils, devices or objects known as a better use in the function for which they are intended.
In all cases, a utility model must meet two requirements for patentability: novelty and industrial application, but can not be inventive, as this requirement is not mandatory. This means that the measured object is conferred really better “utility” by some modification in their structure.Utility models granted for 10 years and all tariffs on processed corresponding to 50% of patents.
MODELS AND INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS
Legislation
In Argentina, the Model and Industrial Designs Law is Nº 16478.
Validity
The term is 5 years from the date of conceded and may be renewed for two periods of 5 years each, to a total of 15 years.
What is model or industrial design?
Argentina adheres to the Paris Convention, and therefore recognizes within 6 months of priority to claim a Model or Industrial Design foreigner in our country.
International conventions
Argentina signed the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and therefore sticks to the six-month priority period to claim a foreign model or industrial design in our country.
REQUIREMENTS
Models or industrial designs may be requested by one or more natural and/or legal persons. Requirements:
Full name of the applicant
Address
Name of the model or industrial design
Description and claims in Spanish
Power of attorney, signed and certified by a Notary Public, and in case of PoAs from other countries, they should also be legalized in the Argentine Consulate in the country of origin.