Friday, August 20 2021   \  Published by VLG Brazil Intellectual Property.

Trademarks in Brazil: is the lack of protection in class 35 a worry?

Analyzing the Brazilian Trademark database and the Brazilian Trademark Guidelines, the lack of protection in International Class 35 is a worry, read and understand why.

According to Brazilian Trademark Guidelines (3rd Edition – 2nd Review, item 5.16), the combination of letters, phonetic similarities, and ideological conflicts are considered for citing a prior trademark as relevant.

Article 7 of Resolution INPI/PR no. 88/2013 describes that during the substantive examination, the Trademark Examiner searches will be limited to the class(es) claimed in the application form, except cases of correspondence between classes belonging to different classification systems.

Analyzing the Brazilian Trademark database, it is possible to find trademarks granted to different owners with the same word-element and related field of activity, the difference between those marks is that the service marks in class 35 are described as “trade” of goods included in international classes 1 to 34. Please, see below the examples extracted from the Brazilian PTO Official Database:

 

Reg. No. Class Goods/Services
829164553 25 Footwear.: Sandals, slippers and clogs
821298755 35 Trade of Footwear, Leather and Travel Goods

 

Reg. No. Class Goods/Services
829482199 25 Clothingapparel, shoes
900039680 35 Dressmaking [consultancy]; cloth treating; cloth cutting; custom assembling of materials for others; cloth (cutting-).

 

Reg. No. Class Goods/Services
822911230 10 surgical,medical and hospital apparatus and instruments included in this class
914581848 35 Trade (by any means) ofmedical apparatus and instruments

 

Therefore, if your trademark already filed/registered in classes 1 to 34 is sold, imported, or exported in the Brazilian market, it would be interesting to file it also in class 35 to increase its protection in the country. Do you have any questions on this matter? Contact usat brazil@vlgbrazil.com.

 

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