Trademarks

Inventa offers a compilation of articles, authored by our team, on some relevant topics that marked the field of innovation, trademarks, patents and IP rights, mainly in Africa, Europe and Asia.

The year 2021 has been in the spotlight since the previous year. With expectation, in almost every part of the planet, it was a year to strengthen ambitions and achieve objectives, as we all try to adjust to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Cape Verde, an island state formed by an archipelago of 10 islands, benefits from its geographic position and has an economy based on the services sector, including trade, transport, tourism, public services, and exports of fish and clothing.

The Nigerian International Franchise Association defines a franchise as “a business arrangement” where “the franchisor grants the franchise operator (the franchisee) the right to distribute certain products or services in a particular way, at a particular location, and for specified periods of time. In return, the franchisee pays the franchisor fees and royalties.”

One of the requirements in Angola for the registration of any IP right through a legal representative is a power of attorney on behalf of the applicant. In cases where the applicants are foreign persons or entities, this document is even mandatory, as they are required to be represented by a local attorney at law, according to article 67 of the Angolan Industrial Property Law (IP Law).

Additionally, for these applicants, it will be required that the power of attorney will be certified at an Angolan consulate or embassy.

The distinctive function and distinctive character

Trademarks serve to distinguish the goods or services of one company from those of other companies. This is the trademark’s most relevant function for the legal system. Only signs which have the capacity to distinguish, i.e., distinctive capacity, can fulfil that function. For this reason, the rules that regulate trademark law determine that a trademark that does not have distinctive capacity cannot be protected, namely through registration.

Since the ousting of former President Omar al-Bashir in 2019, Sudan has been ruled by an alliance between military and civilian groups. However, on 25 October 2021, the military took control. dissolving the transitional government and detaining Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok – although he returned to his residence the next day, according to a source within the Sudanese prime minister’s office and a military source.

WIPO published the 14th Global Innovation Index (GII) in September. This year’s edition was dedicated to tracking innovation through the covid-19 crisis and explores several key indicators – including trademark-related information – to identify trends in innovation across 132 countries. One of the objectives of this is to assist policymakers to promote creativity and inventiveness.

This is a new case of applying to register a sound mark which gained notoriety in the news media and, once again, was rejected owing to the absence of a distinctive character – sound marks are eligible for registration, though not all.

Albeit under different arguments, the General Court of the European Union confirmed the decision by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), which rejected the application by the company Ardagh Metal Beverage Holdings GmbH & Co. KG.

As per Article 139 of Cape Verde’s Trademark Law, a trademark may consist of a “sign or an arrangement of signs capable of being represented graphically, particularly words, including personal names, designs, letters, numerals, sounds, the shape of goods or of their packaging, as long as they are capable of distinguishing the products or services of one company from those of other companies”.

Collaborations between brands and artists are common in the fashion industry and other sectors where aesthetics play an important role. Examples of this include the 13-year partnership between Louis Vuitton and Takashi Murakami, which is considered the brand’s most successful collaboration with an artist, or the BMW Art Car project, which started in 1975 and has involved Andy Warhol among other artists.