The Third Panel of the Brazilian Superior Court of Justice (STJ) recently rendered a decision on Special Appeal No. 1.032.104-RS, published on August 24, 2011, which pacified an apparently simple, yet very important issue for trademark owners.

In a nutshell, the legal question brought before the court was whether the owner of a pending application may assert trade mark rights against third parties or or whether, by contrast, the applicant should wait until registration was granted by the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BPTO) before going to court. Continue reading →

Vinicius Bogéa Câmara is the new trademark director of the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office, as published at the Official Gazzete of June 13, 2011.

Mr. Câmara has a sociology degree and has been working at the BPTO for seven years including as an assistant to the Trademark Director.

According to a press release published at the  the BPTO’s website, the new director goal is to focus on the user’s needs creating simple and readily comprehensible systems with foreseeable results and uniform procedures. Continue reading →

The Third panel of the Superior Court of Justice rejected a trademark infringement claim brought by the company Baer Empreendimentos S/C LTDA  against  Compax Buildings based on the similarity of the trademark “AQUAMARINE” registered for  “administration, rental and auxiliary services for the real estate business” by the Plaintiff with the name of a condo of apartments named ACQUAMARINA in the city of Rio de Janeiro incorporated by the defendant (Special Appeal 867.067 – RJ).

The Reporter Judge, the honorable minister Della Giustina Vasco, decided that the name of a condo of apartments  does not infringe the intellectual property rights inherent in a trademark. Continue reading →