On August 19 2013 the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office
(PTO) issued Resolution No 107, which governs the examination of
highly renowned trademarks. One of the main points of Resolution No
107 is that a 'highly renowned mark' is defined as:
- "a
registered mark whose performance in distinguishing goods or
services and whose symbolic efficacy leads it to exceed its
original goal, thereby going beyond the so-called principle of
'speciality', in view of its distinctiveness, of its
recognition by a wide portion of the public, of the quality,
reputation and prestige related to it, and of its flagrant capacity
to attract consumers by its mere presence."
Following the issuance of the resolution, the PTO issued several
decisions either recognising that a trademark was highly renowned
or denying such recognition. Amongst these decisions, two of them,
in which the PTO refused to recognise that the famous marks BRAHMA
and MASTERCARD were highly renowned, stood out.
