Inventions can be protected by means of patents, which are filed by the interested parties before the Trademark and Patent Office of the place where they are located; in the case of Colombia, they are filed with the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce (SIC).

Before submitting the application for protection of an invention through a patent, the interested party is recommended to consult the state of the art of his invention so that he can identify if it meets the patentability requirements:

1. That they be new
2. That they have an inventive level
3. That they are capable of industrial application.

If the invention that is intended to be protected by patent does not meet the requirements set forth herein, it will be declared unfeasible.

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A patent is an innovation protection measure that must be requested when seeking to protect intellectual property through a property title that is granted to the owner of the invention as a product of his creative work in order for him to have exclusive right to the economic exploitation of your creation for a certain time, thus preventing third parties from using it for commercial purposes without your prior consent.

In order for an invention to be protected through a patent, it must meet 3 basic requirements, which are:

1. Novelty of the invention
2. Inventive step
3. Industrial use

When the inventive project meets these three requirements, the person interested in carrying out the application must draft the patent document taking into account the following parameters:

1. A clear and complete explanation of the invention must be written.
2. Some Claims must be drawn up, through these, the innovative technical characteristics of the invention are known, for which legal protection is claimed through the Patent.
3. Drawings of the invention are presented
4. A summary is written in which the most relevant information of the invention is disclosed quickly and clearly.

Once the steps described above have been carried out, the owner of the invention may request the registration of the patent before the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC) electronically or physically, and must provide the following documents at the time of filing :

1. Petition: it is the form through which the identification data of the invention object of registration and of the owner, the inventor (when it was not the same applicant) and the legal representative in the case of having one are presented.
2. Abstract of the patent.
3. Description of the invention.
4. The claims.
5. Figures or examples.
6. Proof of payment of the fee established by the Colombian Patent and Trademark Office
7. In the cases in which the owner of the invention carries out the patent registration application process through a proxy, the power of attorney granted to the latter must be presented.
8. If the request is made by a company, it is not necessary to provide the certificate of existence and legal representation of the requesting legal entity. The Colombian Patent and Trademark Office may consult the public records of the Certificates of Existence and Representation in the Chamber of Commerce.
9. Copy of the assignment contract or the contract by virtue of which the assignment is presumed when the applicant is not the inventor, for example: service or work contract.

Once these requirements have been met, the patent registration application is filed with the Colombian Patent and Trademark Office and the process to obtain the patent begins, which consists of 4 stages that are

4. Form examination

At this stage, it is analyzed whether the application that was submitted meets the formal requirements imposed by law (Decision 486 of 2000, Article 26 and 27).

5. Publication and oppositions

This stage seeks to publicize the patent applications that have been filed with the Colombian Patent and Trademark Office so that people are aware of the new inventions that they want to protect so that they can present their oppositions.

6. Application for patentability examination

Within the following 6 months from the date of publication, the interested party must request that his application be examined, to determine if the invention is patentable or not.

7. Patentability examination

Through this, the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce (SIC) verifies whether or not the invention that is the subject of the application complies with the patentability requirements in order to determine whether the patent is granted or denied.

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The registration of a trademark in Colombia not only gives the holder the right of exclusivity over it, it also gives him the possibility of preventing the use of a distinctive sign similar to his own, to distinguish products or services similar to those he promotes, when such use causes confusion or risk of association among the consuming public.

In this sense, if a person uses a trademark in the market without the authorization of its owner, they will incur a trademark infringement, and it will be necessary for the affected owner to file a lawsuit for usurpation of the trademark to request compensation for damages, as described stated in article 238 of Decision 482 of 2000 that provides:

“The holder of a right protected by virtue of this Decision may bring an action before the competent national authority against any person who infringes his right. He may also act against whoever performs acts that show the imminence of an infraction.

If the internal legislation of the Member Country allows it, the competent national authority may initiate, ex officio, the actions for infringement provided for in said legislation.

In the case of co-ownership of a right, any of the co-owners may bring an action against an infringement without the need for the consent of the others, unless otherwise agreed between the co-owners.”

On the other hand, the applicable regulations in criminal matters expressly state in its article 306 that the person who fraudulently uses a legally protected trademark will be imprisoned for 4 to 8 years and a fine of 26.66 to 1,500 current legal monthly minimum wages.

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Before answering the question of how to protect a logo in Colombia, it must be remembered that a logo is “a symbol made up of words, images and colors that is used to identify a brand or product”.

In accordance with the foregoing and from the trademark point of view, when a logo is created to differentiate products and/or services within the market, the interested party can protect it by registering the trademark before the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce.

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Before being able to talk about the registration of a trademark in Colombia, it is necessary to analyze what are the aspects that every person or company must take into account before submitting a trademark registration application.

1. You must choose the brand you want to use to identify the products or services you want to market in the market.

It must be remembered that in accordance with Article 134 of Decision 486 of 2000, signs composed of:

1. a) the words or combination of words;
2. b) images, figures, symbols, graphics, logos, monograms, portraits, labels, emblems and shields;
3. c) sounds and smells;
4. d) letters and numbers;
5. e) a color delimited by a shape, or a combination of colors;
6. f) the shape of the products, their containers or wrappers;
7. g) any combination of the signs or means indicated in the previous sections.
8. The products and/or services to be sold in the market must be classified based on the Nice International Classification.

This step is extremely important, because in this way the person interested in registering the trademark will be able to know which are the most appropriate categories to register it.

3. Carry out the search of the trademark history through this query, the interested party will be able to know the signs registered in Colombia, in order to know if the trademark of interest is registrable, taking into account that the trademarks must be differentiable from one another. others.

Once the aforementioned numerals have been exhausted, the application for trademark registration is filed with the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC) which must be filed with the following information and documentation.

• Name and surname of the applicant in the case of natural persons and name of the company in the case of legal persons.
• Address and notification address.
• The name of the sign and whether it is nominative, mixed, figurative, three-dimensional, olfactory or sound.
• The class of the Nice International Classification to which the products or services to be identified belong.
• The products or services that you want to identify.
• Proof of payment of the fee established by the Colombian Patent and Trademark Office
• In cases in which the trademark owner registers through a proxy, the power of attorney granted to the latter must be presented.

Once these requirements have been met, the trademark registration application is filed with the Colombian Patent and Trademark Office and the process to obtain the trademark begins, which consists of 4 stages, which are:

1. Form examination

At this stage, it is analyzed whether the application that was submitted meets the formal requirements imposed by law (Decision 486 of 2000, Articles 138 and 139).

2. Publication and oppositions

This stage seeks to publicize the trademark registration applications that have been filed with the Colombian Patent and Trademark Office so that the holders of distinctive signs or other validly protected intellectual property rights have the possibility to oppose when they feel that the protection of the new trademark may affect theirs.

3. Substantive examination

Through this, the Colombian Patent and Trademark Office carries out the assessment of the signs that have applied for trademark protection and determines through a resolution granting or denying whether or not it complies with the requirements set forth by the Law for a trademark to be protected. can be registered.

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