The territory of the Republic of Ecuador is predominantly
Spanish speaking. Amerindian languages are also widely spoken,
particularly provincially, but their use is gradually diminishing.
Despite the dominance of Spanish in Ecuador, the English language
is everywhere, and its influence could be said to be growing. This
poses certain interesting questions from a trademark law
perspective, since the general approach of the Ecuadorian IP Office
is to consider terms in foreign languages as "fantasy
terms". That is, foreign language terms will not be considered
as being understood by the general public, except in the case of
the most commonly known words.
The stated position is more complex in practice when one
considers that due to the continued encroachment of the English
language throughout the American Hispanic region, generally
accepted as even more marked than in the case of the
Iberian-Hispanic world, the list of well-known English words is
growing and therefore
