BOLIVIA, COLOMBIA, ECUADOR AND PERU
UNFAIR COMPETITION RELATED TO INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY
In Prejudicial Interpretation 322- IP -2015, the Andean Community Court of Justice referred to the faculty that competent authorities have of denying trademark registrations when they have reasonable grounds to infer that their registration has been requested to commit, facilitate or consolidate an unfair competition act.
The Court established that an application is requested for perpetrating an unfair competition act when the application itself is considered as an unfair competition act; to consolidate it, when the application for registration allows to carry out the act by other factual platforms; and to consolidate a complex act of unfair competition, when the application complements and enhances an unfair competition act which is composed of multiple actions.
In regards to “reasonable indications”, the Court stated that they are those facts, acts or omissions which by inference help to conclude that there is great probability that the application has been made with the intent to perpetrate, facilitate or consolidate an unfair competition act. The Court also cited different systematic acts of competing companies that are considered as obstructionist conducts on the market.
Thus, the repeated filing of applications for trademarks that are confusingly similar and cover the same goods as those of another company can be a reasonable indication that they have been requested to perpetrate or shape an unfair competition act.