Resolution No. 4/2019: Argentina begins to ¨warm up¨ for the Law of Personal Data
As we mentioned in previous articles, compared to the changes in Personal Data that the European Union experienced last year, both at the community level and at the national level, due to the sanction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDRP), many Latin American countries began to modify their own laws, not only to comply with the regulations in the cases in which the same are applicable to them but also to be in accordance with this wave of modernization and strengthening.
In the specific case of Argentina, a bill was recently presented to Congress that would replace the Personal Data Protection Law No. 25,326, which has been in force since 2000, in an attempt to align the data protection standards of the country with the GDPR. Furthermore, through Resolution 159/2018, published in the Official Gazette dated December 5th, 2018, the modification of the personal data protection authority was arranged, replacing the National Directorate for the Protection of Personal Data by the Agency of Access to Public Information (known as ¨AAIP¨ in Spanish).
It is in this context of continuous changes in data protection in Argentina and while awaiting the treatment in the National Congress of …
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Argentine Model Wins Lawsuit over intimate video against Google and Yahoo!
Silvina Luna, a well-known Argentine model, obtained a favorable ruling in the second instance in her lawsuit against the search engines Google and Yahoo!, for the broadcast of an intimate video of her with her partner that went viral in 2008.
The lawsuit began when Ms. Luna discovered that the searchers linked her to sites with sexual content, pornography, as a companion and other sex trafficking activities. While first instance had ruled for the search engines, which demonstrated they had promptly complied with a request to remove in time and form the contents that were reported. The National Chamber of Federal Civil and Commercial Appeals revoked the first ruling, mentioning that some URLs of the search results were not removed in a timely manner.
In this regard, in recent years, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation has held in repeated rulings that the obligation of Internet search engines to de-index or stop displaying content published by third parties must be implemented based on an order that specifies the contents to be removed. The way to identify these contents is, unfailingly, through the specific URL (Uniform Resource Locator, which in Spanish means Uniform Resource Locator).…
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Domain names and trade disputes resolution in Argentina
By Moeller IP Advisors
Cybersquatting, the practice of registering domain names using a small variation on a trademark’s name, has been on the rise in South America in the last years. Argentina makes no exception. In the country, registering a ccTLD domain name with the extension .com.ar, .org.ar, .net.ar etc. was free until 2014 – certainly a strong incentive to cybersquatting practices. Indeed, it was common for some users to register a large number of domains trying to resell them to the legitimate trademark owners. It is particularly notable that until 2013, almost the 70% of all domains registered in Argentina were left inactive – probably waiting for someone to pay for them.
The Argentine Legal Framework
Recently, Argentina tried to tackle the issue of cybersquatting through a series of resolutions, of which 3 are particularly worth mentioning.
Resolution 654/2009, enacted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Culture, established the first system of domain name dispute resolution. Until then, it was only possible to file a claim to a civil court and ask for damages if the party legitimately owned a trademark. The Resolution provided that the trademark owner could file an administrative claim to the NIC, the …
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Hotels put the Copyright law of Argentina under pressure
As a result of an investigation by the National Commission for the Defense of Competition (CNDC), the Ministry of Commerce fined the Argentine Society of Authors and Composers of Music (Sadaic) for US $ 1,567,945. The survey determined that Sadaic charged “excessive prices” on copyright fees paid by hotels and other establishments for music reproduction in hotels guest rooms.
To determine this fine, the CNDC made an international comparison of the tariffs paid for the reproduction of musical works and the result of the investigation determined that in Argentina hotels and other establishments pay between six and nine times more than the average of the reference countries.
These fees imply a fee payment for copyright for playing music in hotels. With the calculation methodology used by Sadaic, each hotel must pay the fee for having televisions in the rooms, regardless of whether the room was occupied or not and if musical works were even used.
“This measure implies an improvement in the competitiveness of the tourism sector and enables the reduction of tariffs for rights of authors and composers charged for the secondary reproduction of TV and music content in hotels,” according to the president of …
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Stay on top of the new Argentine Opposition Proceedings
By Moeller IP Advisors
In July, the Argentine Patent and Trademark Office (INPI) issued the resolution P-183, instituting a new opposition proceeding, which entered in force on September 18, 2018.We are already monitoring it’s implementation and will keep you updated when you send a request to trademarks@moellerip.com.
The innovation of this resolution is based on the fact that it establishes an administrative proceeding to resolve an opposition instead of resorting to the Federal Courts on Civil and Commercial Matters. Additionally, the procedural burden to move forward with the opposition now rests with the opponent instead of on the applicant of the opposed sign.
In general terms, the new opposition proceeding contemplated by the resolution P-183 determines the following:
1) Once the official notification of the opposition is served by the INPI to the parties involved, they will have a three-month period to seek an amicable solution to the conflict.
2) If the three-month negotiation period expires without having reached an agreement, the INPI will notify the opponent in order to obtain a stand on whether or not to open the administrative proceeding to resolve the opposition. If the opponent decides to proceed, they would have to pay a fee of …
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Argentina and Europe to cooperate on patents
by Moeller IP Advisors
On February 5, 2018, the European Patent Office (EPO) and the National Institute of Industrial Property of Argentina (INPI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the introduction of the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) by INPI. The MoU was signed during a meeting held between EPO President Benoît Battistelli and Argentina’s Commerce Secretary Miguel Braun in Buenos Aires to discuss recent developments in patents and innovation and the cooperation between the two regions in this field. According to the MoU, INPI will start classifying its publications with the CPC by January 2019.
The CPC, which was launched by the EPO and the USPTO in January 2013, is now considered the new global standard for refined patent classification. It is already in use, or will soon be used, by 26 patent offices around the world. Argentina has joined other Latin American countries, including Mexico, Brazil and Chile, in the adoption of the CPC.
At the meeting, progress was discussed on other joint projects laid out in a MoU on bilateral co-operation signed by the EPO and INPI in May 2017. This agreement covers areas such as access to information, sharing data and tools, improved patent procedures, and …
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The Regulation of Biosimilars in Argentina
By Moeller IP Advisors
Research and production costs for developing pharmaceuticals are extremely high, especially for biological drugs. Biopharmaceutical companies can expect to spend up to US$ 1.3 billion for developing and testing a single drug, and the costs are constantly increasing.
The expiration of the exclusive rights conferred by patents causes a further profit loss – which has been estimated around US$ 70 billion between 2010 and 2024.
Pharmaceutical companies have developed a way to extend the profitability of patented drugs: they test molecules whose patents are about to expire or have expired and develop biosimilar drugs at a much lower price than the original pharmaceutical.
Biosimilars share an identical protein sequence and common amino acid sequence with the originals and have similar characteristics, efficacy and safety. They can be developed and tested quickly at a fraction of the cost, they need around 6 to 9 years of clinical trials. In some cases, biosimilars can also be patented.
Argentina’s biopharmaceutical industry
In the 80’s, Argentina was a leading initiator in South America for biotechnological research. According to a report of the World Bank, Argentina’s investment in R&D of new pharmaceuticals is still among the highest in the region, …
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Cloud Computing in Argentina
By Moeller IP Advisors
Argentina is one of the most advanced countries in South America when it comes to the adoption of cloud computing technologies.
Last year, Argentina was said to be in the running with Chile as the site of a new data centre for Amazon cloud computing services in South America. Although this has not been confirmed, earlier this year Amazon has been recruiting for the opening of a new office in Argentina.
The adoption of cloud computing services may prove pivotal for the economy of the country: cloud computing allows to cut the costs substantially – relative to the IT infrastructure – giving a competitive advantage to the companies who use it, especially small and medium enterprises.
A report by the cloud provider VMware suggests that hybrid cloud deployment would reduce total IT spending by approximately 20-30 percent.
The development of cloud computing technologies goes hand in hand with a comprehensive regulatory framework that facilitates the adoption.
According to a study conducted by the independent think-tank BSA, Argentina is also one of the countries where the evolution of the legal and regulatory environment for cloud computing has been faster and has been in line with the recent …
Read MoreWORKS OF APPLIED ART
Gustavo Godoy is an Argentine well-known artist, whose reproductions of some of his paints are being shown at a station of Subway of Buenos Aires City, in the middle of its historical center.
Moeller IP Advisors, as a way of encouraging the world of culture and art, has provided free legal advice to Gustavo Godoy in order to register his works with the National Copyright Organism.
As you can see in the pictures below, Godoy has used for the reproductions of his works elements such as chairs, sofas and beds. What’s more, he has painted pictures directly on some of these pieces of furniture. Those are works of applied art.
Decision No. 351 /1993 (Common Provisions on Copyright and Neighboring Rights) of the Andean Community, in its Article 3, provides that: “work of applied art means an artistic creation with utilitarian functions or incorporated in a useful article, whether a work of handicraft or one produced on an industrial scale“.
Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, includes the works of applied art in the merely illustrative list of the types of works (Article 2.1), but declares that “…
Read MoreOverview of the Argentinean Intellectual Property System
1. International Treaties governing IP law
Argentina is a member of the following IP Treaties, which prevail over local laws according to the Argentinean National Constitution:
Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (1883);
Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Work (1886);
Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations (1961);
TRIPs, Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, (1995);
WIPO Copyright Treaty (1996);
WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (1996);
UPOV (International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants Protection, as its version of 1978),
Argentina is not a member of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT),
Argentina is not a member of the Madrid System to file Trademarks.
Argentina has not formally adhered to the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy issued by ICANN and administered by WIPO in order to set disputes over local (ccTLDs) domain names.
2. Trademarks, Geographical Indications and Industrial Designs
In general terms, Argentine trademark law and practice has been one of the most advanced in Latinamerica and considered similar to those of most European systems.
Almost any sign having distinctive power can be registered as a trademark including sounds, wrappings, packaging, advertising slogans, etc.
The time …