Reform of Argentina’s industrial property legislation

The reform, aimed at de-bureaucratizing the public sector and simplifying administrative procedures, through Law No 27.444 B. O, implied important amendments were introduced regarding trademarks, patents, and designs. Let’s take a look at some of its aspects:

TRADEMARK LAW
The most important change in the Trademark Law is related to the Opposition System. Argentina was known for having an extremely slow, outdated, and detrimental to everyone’s interests (both trademark applicants and opponents) opposition system. It was a system in which the Trademark Office did not decide the opposition, but the opposition usually had to be finalized before the judges.

With the amendment, the time limit for obtaining an amicable withdrawal of the opposition has been reduced from 12 to 3 months and, if an amicable settlement is not reached, the Trademark Office will now have sufficient authority to rule on the merits of the opposition filed, as in most countries in the world, and recourse to the Courts will only be necessary at the appeal stage.

Another important change in the Trademark Law is that until now, the Trademark Law in Argentina did not allow for partial cancellation of trademarks, which will now be possible. This partial cancellation will be available from 12 June 2023.

Another important modification is the need to file an affidavit of use of the trademark within the fifth and sixth year of registration to maintain its validity.

PATENT LAW
The most important change to the Patent Law is that previously the Certificate of Priority Rights and the assignment thereof had to be filed within 90 days, duly translated, or the priority rights claim was lost. This requirement was removed and now the Certificate of Priority Rights and its assignment can be requested at the time of Examination of the application.

The time limit for filing the Request for Examination is reduced from three years to eighteen months, as well as the time limit for paying for the examination.

Furthermore, regarding the Power of Attorney, under the previous regulations, it had to be filed together with the application; under the new decree, an affidavit of the Attorney will suffice unless the Patent Office requests otherwise.

INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS DECREE
As regards the registration of industrial models and designs, the most important change is that it will now be possible to file multiple applications in a single filing (up to 20 different Models or Designs).

Likewise, the requirement to file formal drawings has been abolished and it will be possible to file photographs and/or electronic reproductions of the Models and Designs; while the description of the same will not be compulsory, but will be accepted if the applicant deems it appropriate.

Likewise, the number of images to be submitted has been reduced to a maximum of seven per design. Furthermore, it has been established that the descriptions of the designs are no longer compulsory, but the descriptions of each of the positional views will have to be accompanied by each of the images or formal drawings.