Argentina Argentine Argentinien Report Q168 in the Name of the Argentinean Group by Claudia SERRITELLI, Ricardo RICHELET (H), Se
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Argentina Argentine Argentinien Report Q168 in the name of the Argentinean Group by Claudia SERRITELLI, Ricardo RICHELET (h), Sergio ELLMANN, Gustavo GIAY, Ariel MANOFF Use of a mark "as a mark" as a legal requirement in respect of acquisition, maintenance and infringement of rights 1. Is there any requirement for use of a mark "as a mark" for the purposes of 1.1 Acquiring a mark (if rights may be acquired by use according to national law) No prior use of a mark "as a mark" is required by national law in order to acquire rights on the mark. Under Argentine trademark law, property and exclusive use rights on a trademark are ac- quired through registration. However, local courts have acknowledged rights on unregistered marks under certain con- ditions, such as having used the mark for a legitimate business for a reasonable time hav- ing thus created a clientele for such mark. Courts have even recently granted "injunctions" in defence of intensely used -though unregistered- trademarks. 1.2 Maintaining of a trademark registration (e.g. against an application for cancellation on grounds of non-use) Use of a mark "as a mark" is required for maintaining a trademark registration. As per national trademark law, trademarks may be renewed if used within the last five years prior to expiration either "in the marketing of a product, the rendering of a service or as part of the designation of an activity or business name". At the same time, trademarks are vulnerable to cancellation actions on account of non-use, if unused within the last five years prior to the bringing of the cancellation action. Published authors and Court precedents indicate that use should be serious, significant, and unequivocal. Use by an unauthorized party would normally not prevent cancellation for non use. It should be noted that the criteria by which use "as a Mark" is accepted is flexible, as in re: "Baker Cummings Dermatologicals, Inc. vs. Laboratorios Felipe Bajer S.A." Division 2 of the Federal Court of Appeals (La Ley, 1995-D, page 618), where the Court ruled: "In order to determine if a trademark was used, a flexible criteria should be applied, comprehensive of any act which has as a consequence that the distinctive sign appears in the market place and considering that the statute makes the concept of use and marketing as equivalents. The latter is meant to be understood with an extensive criteria, including commercial ex- change acts and other applications of the product". In this precedent, Argentine Courts have validated preliminary activities as a valid use to avoid the cancellation of a mark ruling that "... the launching of a new product and a new trademark involve preliminary activities [i.e. clearance trademark searches, printing logos, designing packaging, catalogues ] and if those activities are not accepted as a trademark use, the analysis as to whether they may be considered trademark use, would be extremely rigorous....In that connection the.... rec- ognized effect of those preliminary acts before the marketing of products, of exhibitions prior to launching, advertising, distribution of free samples to test the product, rent or...., 1 summing up the term "use" includes all manners by which a mark is made perceptible in the market..." 1.3 Establishing infringement. In principle, use of a mark "as a mark" by a third party without consent of its legitimate owner constitutes trademark infringement. Argentine Trademark Law Nº 22.362 uses broad infringement criteria. Article 31 subparagraph c) states that "use of a counterfeit or fraudu- lently imitated registered trademark or trade name without the owners consent" would amount to infringement. On the basis of this provision, there may be instances where use of a mark not necessarily "as a Mark" would also constitute trademark infringement. 2. Is there any definition of what is the use "as a mark" either in statute or case law? There is no specific definition of what is use "as a mark" in Argentine statutes. However, Art. 1 of Argentine trademark law, which gives examples of what may be registered as a trademark, refers to signs to "distinguish products and services" and which are capable of being "distinctive". Case law has frequently defined a trademark as a distinctive sign used for identifying a product or service, distinguishing the same from others, as well as indicating source or ori- gin of such good/service. The law refers to use "in the marketing of a product, the rendering of a service or as part of the designation of an activity". In the same fashion Article 26 allows use of the mark as a trade name in order to defend a registration against a cancellation action. 3. Is there any difference in the assessment of use "as a mark" between the acquisition, maintenance and infringement of rights? There are some differences in assessing what use qualifies for acquisition, maintenance or infringement of rights. However, differences may lie not so much in the definition of the concept of "use as a mark" but on what uses not "as a mark" meet the standards for acqui- sition, maintenance or infringement of rights, respectively. As stated in point 1.1. above, in principle, use of a mark "as a mark" is not necessary for the acquisition of rights thereon, which are acquired through registration. However, case law has frequently acknowledged rights to users of unregistered trademarks under certain con- ditions, as mentioned in point 1.1. above (use should be serious, significant, and unequivo- cal), which do require use of a mark "as a mark". The maintenance requirement can be met with at least one further use (tradename) which would not be considered to be "as a Mark". Courts further note that the trademark owner should have a "bona fide" intention of using the mark, in order to meet the user require- ment. Courts have applied a flexible criteria as to what "sufficient use" of a mark is, when deciding on cancellation actions based on non-use or upon examining maintenance re- quirement of renewal applications. The Argentine Group believes that legitimate use on the Internet of a trademark - in relation to goods and services - in Argentina will be considered as "sufficient" use to maintain a trademark registration. As to infringements, unauthorized uses of a mark on the Internet either "as a mark", as a domain name or otherwise, would be considered as infringing trademark rights and may be enjoined under trademark law, legal provisions on unfair competition or providing for the nullity of illicit or immoral acts. Courts have ruled that use as tradenames, copyrights, or ad- vertising may constitute infringement. Courts assessed that a registration of a domain name that included (apart from the words www and .com.ar) a third party mark, would be sufficient to find trademark infringement and grant injunctions. 2 In re "Heladerias Freddo S.A. vs. Spot Network", the Federal Judge of a Court of First in- stance ruled that "....given that the plaintiff proved credible rights (trademark registration) to apply for precautionary measures, the requested measure should be granted in order to stop the defendant's unlawful use of the mark through Internet, as the domain name could only be used by the owner of intellectual property rights or by an authorized third party." There are several court precedents that upheld Heladerías Freddo's decision. The 2nd Divi- sion of the Federal Court of Appeals in re "Pugliese Francisco, Nicolas c/ Perez Carlos En- rique" ruled that "....independently as to whether or not domain names can be considered equivalent to trademarks, the essence of the claim is the protection of a trademark registra- tion which was being used by someone who is not its owner... [if the injunctive relief were not accepted], ...the plaintiff would be refrained from using its trademark through alternative means of selling its products." 4. Is any of the following considered to be use "as a mark" If necessary, please differentiate between acquisition, maintenance and infringement of marks 4.1 Use on the internet, as a metatag, in linking or framing Such uses do not constitute use "as a mark", since in the case of metatags, the same are not visible to the public, and in the case of linking or framing they are used as a means to connect to other web sites or contents thereof. Regarding maintenance the Argentine group believes that use as a metatag is not suffi- cient. Regarding linking and framing under certain circumstances they may be regarded as sufficient if such use is considered to be in the territory of Argentina (which presents juris- dictional problems not discussed in this question). An example could be that they qualify as good faith preparatory acts leading to subsequent use "as a mark" Regarding infringement it should be noted that even if no court decisions have been passed in connection with conflicts between holders of trademarks and third parties making use thereof through metatags, deep linking or framing, in the opinion of the Argentine Group, cease of such uses could be successfully sought before the courts in defence of trademark rights, either alleging use of the mark without having owner's consent, dilution thereof, un- fair competition, or trying to prevent such third parties from obtaining an unfair advantage from such use. Based on court precedents regarding use of a mark in the Internet as a domain name as a comparable situation it is interesting to note that injunctions have been consistently granted by our courts in defence of trademarks registered as domain names by third parties having no legitimate interest in such names. Courts in these cases have ordered the temporary cease of use of the domain name by the registrant (alleged infringer), and the simultaneous temporary registration of such domain name and authorization for use thereof by plaintiff.