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.

E-mail: info@tmtamayo.com

A brand can be classified as an intangible asset that is used for the sole purpose of distinguishing products and services found in the market from others that may be similar to the one that is intended to be marketed.

In order for this immaterial element to be perceived by the senses, it is of vital importance that it can be materialized, through elements that allow its receptivity through words, word combinations, images, figures, symbols, graphics, among others.

In accordance with the foregoing, it is clear that the registration of a trademark in Colombia is a process that should be carried out by any natural or legal person that has a commercial establishment in order to protect that differentiating sign that makes them unique in the market and to In turn, it provides them with a series of benefits that are shown below.

• Allows the company to differentiate its product within the market
• The owner who registers a trademark in Colombia will have the exclusive right to use it for 10 years, which may be renewed.
• The registration of the trademark in Colombia allows its expansion within the national and international market.
• Increases the value of the intangible asset.
• The trademark registration gives the owner ownership of it and the power to initiate legal actions in case third parties use it without authorization, that is, they commit acts of unfair competition or trademark usurpation.

As a relatively new intellectual property model, the examination of olfactory marks presents a series of challenges for the authorities in charge of their registration and protection in Colombia. To date, the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce (SIC), which is the entity in charge of carrying out this process, has presented some shortcomings in its ability to adequately evaluate olfactory marks and to date Colombia has not granted any.

One of the main shortcomings of the SIC is the lack of specialized knowledge and technical resources to carry out the evaluation of olfactory marks. Unlike other types of marks, olfactory marks require a sensory evaluation process, which, since it does not exist, must use current tools with compliance with the distinctiveness factors, perceptibility through smell and unequivocal graphics with that the smell can be represented.

It corresponds to the applicant for the olfactory mark to provide the sensory representations and it will be an opponent who, with the same parameter, compares the mark requested for registration with the mark that he intends to object to in dispute, while the SIC must participate only as guarantor of the comparison to take a decision.

Another shortcoming is the lack of a clear methodology to evaluate olfactory marks. Some countries have developed specific methodologies to evaluate scent marks and have defined clear criteria to determine whether a trademark meets the registration requirements of a scent mark. In Colombia, on the other hand, there is no clear methodology that is applied uniformly to evaluate olfactory marks, which has led to inconsistent and arbitrary decisions.

In addition, the SIC does not have a centralized registry of scent marks. This makes it difficult to identify scent marks that may be similar or identical to those already registered. Consequently, the intellectual property rights associated with scent marks may not be fully guaranteed, which may harm the owners of these marks.

In summary, the SIC faces several difficulties when evaluating olfactory marks, including the need for specialized technical knowledge and resources, the implementation of a clear evaluation methodology, and a centralized registration system for olfactory marks. By addressing these shortcomings, the entity will be able to improve the protection of intellectual property rights associated with olfactory brands and guarantee greater legal certainty to their owners.