BUSINESS BRIEF: URUGUAY
24 hours of the application. If the application is granted and if the suspected material is provisionally seized, the copyright owner will have the burden of filing a substantive civil and/or criminal claim within 10 days as of the issuance of the decision granting the seizure of the suspected goods. Te costs associated with this course of action are related to the economical value of the case, so they will depend on the amount of goods and their estimated value.
Tis course of action is a valuable tool for preventing at customs level the dissemination of infringing goods within the Uruguayan jurisdiction.
Common copyright infringement claims will be prosecuted as normal civil actions and will take from one to three years, if the case is not settled beforehand. Both professional and official fees are related to the monetary/ economical value of the case.
Counterfeiting
How big a problem is counterfeiting in your jurisdiction? Unfortunately counterfeiting in Uruguay is a big problem which has increased in recent years.
Te following are the main issues regarding counterfeits in Uruguay: health problems, (because of fake pharmaceuticals), economic problems (because of the damage to the wider economy) and, in the case of trademarks, problems affecting their reputation.
What industries are particularly at threat? Te main Uruguayan sector that is suffering
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from counterfeits is the music industry. It is quite difficult for musicians to record a CD as the costs are high, and then the sales are not as good as they expected due to the fact that consumers can buy pirated discs at incredibly low prices.
Other industries under threat are automotive, medicine and clothing. Tese industries are suffering not only economically from counterfeiting but also experiencing reputational damage.
What are the best strategies for dealing with the problem?
Te best strategies for dealing with counterfeits are the following:
• To have the trademark registered in the correct classes; to have the copyrighted work registered before the Uruguayan National Library; and to have the patent registered in Uruguay.
• In Uruguay trademark rights exist aſter the registration of the trademark before the Uruguayan Trademark Office and thus, neither civil nor criminal action can be filed without the registration of the correspondent trademark. Te same happens with patents.
• To work with a Uruguayan law firm specialising in IP. In our jurisdiction, IP firms are in constant contact with the customs office, the police and also with the correspondent courts and working with these local firms can help to achieve a fast solution in counterfeit cases.
Juan Lapenne is a partner at Fox and Lapenne. He can be contacted at:
jlapenne@fox.com.uy
World Intellectual Property Review Annual 2012 147
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