By Carlos Cavalcanti. Lawyer, Managing Partner at Moeller IP Brazil.
Brigadeiro, cheese bread, açaí in the bowl, Minas cheese, Capoeira teaching, and Chorinho show are some 668 descriptions of new products and services typical of Brazil that, as of June 5, 2020, are part of Madrid Goods and Services Manager (MGS), a product and service classifier from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
This is a simple and effective milestone for Brazilian Trademark Law and Industrial Property. Through easy access to these data at MGS, we seek to ensure that offices in other countries do not exclusively assign products and services that are so typical of Brazilian history and production as a brand.
In addition, the initiative is based on the fact that most of the laws in the world follow the equivalent to that determined in item VI of article 124 of Law No. 9.279 / 1996 (Industrial Property Law), which prevents the registration of descriptive signs when related to the product or service to be distinguished.
The work was an initiative of employees of the BRPto Trademark Directorate that make up the teams of the Madrid Protocol and the Product and Service Classification Commission (CCPS) in partnership with WIPO.
From around 200 of these descriptions of typical Brazilian items, which were already on the auxiliary lists of products and services prepared by CCPS since 2000, the wording has been improved to provide standardization, clarity, and the best information from the point of view foreign users.
Then, developments and expansions were made, resulting in 668 items, with translation into English. The descriptions came from extensive Commission research from a variety of sources.
