BOLIVIA, COLOMBIA, ECUADOR AND PERU
CONCEPT OF CONFUSION REGARDING TRADEMARKS FOR EDUCATION SERVICES
In Prejudicial Interpretation 178- IP -2015, the Andean Community Court of Justice referred to the confusion between trademarks that cover educational services and the fact that consumers of this type of services are more discerning.
The Court stated that, nowadays, education has a very important and fundamental role in society; therefore, the consumers will be more meticulous in regards to educational services. However, the general public will not make a very detailed analysis and in that sense they might be easily confused.
Thus, the Court held that trademarks for educational services are a very powerful instrument of identification, not only for direct consumers but also for anyone trying to retain or use these services for any purpose (employers and consumers of academic products).
Therefore, in doing the comparative analysis of the signs, the judge must take into consideration the importance to the general consumer to differentiate the conflicting signs since an error regarding these services could cause great harm to the social conglomerate.