INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY is conceived as the area of knowledge and the branch of Law that regulates intellectual creations and their protection, which deals with the study of subjective rights that fall on objects that are not constituted by things, but by immaterial goods.
Summary:
It has the following MODALITIES:
• Inventions,
• Industrial designs,
• Utility models,
• Distinctive signs (trademarks, trade names, establishment signs, business emblems)
• Geographical indications,
• Business secrets,
• Repression of unfair competition,
• Plant varieties,
• Layout schemes (topographies) of Integrated Circuits.
All these modalities that comprise it are divided into two large groups, which work with different principles: new industrial creations and distinctive signs.
We will work specifically with DISTINCTIVE SIGNS.
Development:
The importance, the concept and the objective of the TRADEMARK have evolved with time and the development of commercial relations. At the end of the 80's, work began on the GLOBAL IMAGE, which includes the Corporate Identity and also covers all aspects related to the life and environment of said organization, with TRADEMARKS being the fundamental pillar.
The Strategic planning is conceived as a combination of elements that allow management competitive position in the sector in which it operates.
It is conceived that TRADEMARKS represent an important business asset, as they constitute a negotiable and transferable title by any form of those admitted by law and one of the fundamental means to guarantee the market for both products and services in the modern world.
There are then precepts considered important when materializing the STRATEGY of the trademark policy for an organization:
1. In the TRADEMARKS selection process, it is considered that they should be short, easy to pronounce and suggestive, that they are not within the legal prohibitions established in the trademark legislation of our country (Decree-Law No.: 203 of 1999) and, in a general sense, of the international reference available (Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights - TRIPS).
2. Trends in relation to design, color, typeface, container and packaging are related to the characteristics of the consumer for whom it is intended, as well as their particularities.
3. The quality of the products that will be distinguished with the BRAND and their characteristics.
4. Carry out the corresponding search that allows us to supply the information, necessary for a correct and safe selection of the TRADEMARKS (Negative Right to prohibit third parties from using it) for subsequent registration (Attribution System).
5. Appoint a representative to the Cuban Industrial Property Office, to guarantee the correct processing flow.
It is known that there are also Disused Trademarks that can be used when they are positioned in a certain population sector and that can favor the product they protect.
Our economy is opening up more and more to the world, and the recovery phase that our country has been experiencing is evident, which can be seen in:
1. The boom in traditional sectors.
2. The emergence of new sectors of production and services.
3. Opening of trade and Foreign Investment (Law Number 77, On Foreign Investment and Joint Resolution CITMA-MINCEX No.: 1-98)
4. Increase in research as an activity that generates commercial goods, since since in 1960 Science was stimulated as an important factor to satisfy social needs
It is logical then that we adapt our products to these requirements, and that we behave according to the environment, internalizing that the new situation that the country presents requires notable CHANGES in business management in such a way that an advantageous economic development is achieved in business organizations, that at the same time favors the economic advancement of the country.
In this case, in the DAIRY PRODUCTS COMPANY ¨ESCAMBRAY¨, it was an imminent need to adapt to these precepts, considering the possibility of properly inserting ourselves in a market that requires compliance with certain formalities, especially those related to INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY, and Within this, those conceived in the BRANDS AND OTHER DISTINCTIVE SIGNS, thus, a whole work of definition of the BRAND POLICY STRATEGY was carried out that would favor this objective.
To accomplish this, we will succinctly try to define the work undertaken in steps:
I. Carry out training actions that allow knowing what is stipulated by current legislation on the matter on the subject of TRADEMARKS AND OTHER DISTINCTIVE SIGNS.
Through the collaboration of the former ONIITEM, today CUBAN OFFICE OF INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY (OCPI), the Specialists of this institution gave a Postgraduate Course on the aforementioned subject. This allowed us to realize the real status of this important tool in the organization (Knowledge Management).
II. Review of the actual situation in BRANDS AND OTHER DISTINCTIVE SIGNS at those times.
When conducting the review, we detected that there were flagrant violations of the provisions of the Current Legislation, as well as aspects that violated the objective set, such as:
a) Lack of a strategy that would allow the organization to successfully insert and position itself in the Foreign Currency Trading Market, taking advantage of its potentialities (strengths and opportunities), different from the rest of its competitors and adjusted to the law.
b) Existence of a single TRADEMARK to identify products of different classes, of dissimilar qualities and with various destinations, taking into account the Inventory of customers (Cheese, Ice Cream, Milk and other dairy products)
c) Use of TRADEMARKS, which, in fact, they constitute the property of another owner in some cases and that in others constitute DENOMINATIONS OF ORIGIN of these (Violation of the provisions of the Paris Convention and TRIPS), as is the case of:
• Camembert de Normadie
• Carré
• Reblochón
• Gouda
• Salami, etc.
All these TRADEMARKS appeared on the labels with the surname "CUBANO" (Misconception of the Indication of Origin) to identify their productive origin; in addition to the rest of the information, which must appear by Standards, especially the data corresponding to the producer.
d) Not taking advantage of the productive prestige of the organization in favor of the different modalities of INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY.
III. Once the real existing situation has been defined with the so-called BANK OF PROBLEMS IN INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY, establish the work schedule to solve it, in actions such as:
a) Inform the higher body of the need to urgently establish radical changes in the trademark policy of the organization, feasible at this time, considering the organizational and financial autonomy of the entity.
b) Establish cooperative relations with the ONIITEM / OCPI, for advisory services, search and registration of new TRADEMARKS.
c) Study and investigation in the archives of the ONIITEM / OCPI, to rescue BRANDS IN DISUSE, that represent benefits of our products and that at the time were positioned in the Market and Clients.
d) Choice of TRADEMARKS to be registered according to the type of product, its benefits, destination, quality and especially that they are LAW-ADJUSTED.
e) Search Service in the ONIITEM / OCPI, to carry out a secure Registration.
f) Registration of new TRADEMARKS
g) Use of a TRADEMARK defined in the commercial world as BRAND UMBRELLA, for those products of lower quality in their integrity and composition, as well as a certain amount of TRADEMARKS that allow a quick and legal use in the case of new products.
h) Use of the name of the organization, for its registration as a COMMERCIAL NAME, which must appear on the labels, together with its logo, in such a way that the information on the productive origin is guaranteed.
i) Selection and Registration of the COMMERCIAL EMBLEM, in such a way that using the INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY modalities, it expands to promotional and / or advertising activities.
IV. Materialize the ACTION PLAN described above.
V. Keep each of the Registries updated
With all that has been done, and that we have tried to refer in a concrete and summarized way, the DAIRY PRODUCTS COMPANY "ESCAMBRAY", creates for its benefit an INTERNAL SYSTEM OF INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY, which currently constitutes an indispensable tool in the work of its executives in favor of the projection, management and insertion of this organization in the market.
Bibliography:
- Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, "AGREEMENT ON TRIPS", of April 15, 1994, of great importance, obliges the members of the WTO to comply with minimum protection. Microsoft Consultation Library, Encarta, 2004. Decree Law 203 "On Trademarks and Other Distinctive Signs", dated December 24, 1999. Published in Extraordinary Gazette No. 3 of May 2, 2000. Decree Number 209, Regulation of the Industrial Property Law, dated February 7, 1956. Published in the Extraordinary Official Gazette on February 21, 1956§ Resolution Number 63/2000 of May 24, 2000, which approves and puts into force the Regulation of the Decree- Law Number 203 on Trademarks and other Distinctive Signs.
