NEW PI LAW COMES INTO FORCE IN CHILE
As of May 9, 2022, the actors of the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem will be able to make use of the benefits that Law 21.355 incorporates in the way trademarks and patents are processed in the country.
After intense institutional work, this Monday, May 9, Law 21.355, which modifies Chile's industrial property regulations dating back to 1991, came into force. The changes seek to provide the users of the system with greater tools when applying for protection rights so that inventors and entrepreneurs can face the market in a more competitive way.
This is one of the most important transformations of the last 30 years for the Chilean industrial property system. "At INAPI, we are pleased to see the many efforts made that have resulted in a law that directly benefits our users. From today, a range of possibilities opens up for people to protect and add value to their assets," said the National Director of INAPI, Loreto Bresky.
Among the most awaited advances by the local ecosystem, provisional patents are incorporated, which will allow inventors, universities, research centers and companies to have 12 months to gather all the information required for the processing of the right of protection. During this period, it will be possible to evaluate the viability of an application, its scalability and projection, without losing priority, as is the case in the USA, Australia and Portugal.
Another important measure added to the law is the patent usurpation action, which gives the inventor the possibility of filing a claim for damages against third parties who try to appropriate his innovation. This is in contrast to the previous legislation, which in the case of usurpation, the legitimate owner had the only option of requesting a declaration of nullity of registration.
"The changes introduced by the law offer greater opportunities for innovators to make strategic use of the protection right. This is so that they can project themselves in the market and glimpse the impact of their disruptive technologies on society," said Loreto Bresky.
Regarding trademarks, the rule that comes into force today incorporates different types of distinctive signs, through a new conceptual definition that expands the possibilities by excluding the requirement of graphic representation. Therefore, non-traditional trademarks are introduced for the first time in Chile, such as three-dimensional, holographic, multimedia and motion marks, among others.
On the other hand, the reform contemplates the concept of lapse for lack of use, which seeks that the exclusive rights of trademarks make sense and are effectively applied in the national market to identify products and services, and not to block the entry of competitors.
In this way, "the new law seeks to establish more efficient and expeditious registration procedures, which not only facilitate and clarify the processing processes that users must carry out to obtain them, but also allow INAPI to carry out a better quality management," said the National Director.
Source: INAPI - CHILE
