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Trademark awareness and new Indecopi´s guidelines on market research

In a globalized world as it is today, trademarks, as distinctive signs distinguish products and / or services, trademarks become important in the market because they are considered an economic value added of the company.

The relevance of a trademark lies in the degree of protection that it holds. Of all distinctive signs, a well-known trademark holds a high degree of protection. A well-known trademark not only meets the character of distinctiveness required to access legal protection. However, it also meets the advocacy role of the trademark, through commercial strategies, which allow, through its crowded use, an on-consuming public. .

According to what is stated in the Article 228 of Decision 486 of the Andean Community, in order to be declared a well-known trademark, certain factors must be analyzed. One of them is to analyze the degree of trademark awareness among members of the relevant sector in any member country, that is to say, it must be demonstrated that the consumer public knows the trademark and the consumer public is able to immediately associate products / services which are commercialized in the market and, also with its commercial origin.

The following shall be considered as relevant economic sectors of reference for determining the notoriety of a distinctive sign, under Article 230 of Decision 486:

a) Actual or potential consumers of the product or service to which it may apply.

b) People involved in channels of distribution or marketing of such products or services to which it may apply.

c) Business circles operating in lines of the kind of establishment, activity, goods or services to which it may apply.

As it is noticed, the Andean Decision provides us guidelines to determine the degree of knowledge of a well-known trademark, however, it fails to fully develop them. In that sense, the Peruvian PTO´s management of Economic Studies resolved to standardize the methodological aspects to be observed in market research, which are the main means to prove notoriety of a distinctive sign, through some guidelines approved by the Resolution of the Presidency of the Board of the Peruvian PTO No. 2019-2016 / COD-INDECOPI, published on July 12 in the official newspaper “El Peruano”.

The resolution refers to the minimum information that a market study must contain to be the subject of analysis is the Resolution No. 007-2016 / DSD-INDECOPI, which establishes the following sections as a minimum:

1. Date and place of conducting market research

2. Research Design

It should be noted that this section should include information about the universe of the study, the description of the sampling, weighting methods employed, data collection, data processing, and presentation of results, all with the purpose of demonstrating that the results have been the result of a rigorous market research.

3. Technical file

4. Methodology of data collection

This section should have information on the type of interview method, the structure of questions, and reproduction of the questionnaire.

5. Objectives, scope and restrictions

6. Sampling and data collection

7. Statistical analysis of the data

The purpose of this section is to check whether according to the results obtained it is possible to generalize about the whole market.

8. Study Results

As pointed out by the Indecopi, this section should contain information on market sectors included and the degree of knowledge of the sign in and out of the sectors analyzed.

Taking into account the guidelines mentioned before, it can be said that eventually the Peruvian PTO´s management of Economic Studies has achieved the standardization of criteria for the market research which was already working, at least in most cases, it is allowing us to have accurate information and that such studies should have clear information.

In this way, Resolution No. 007-2016 / DSD-INDECOPI is a document very useful for users because it provides predictability, due to we are able to know from the start the type of market study will be accepted and what type of information it must contain.

Finally, it is important to mention that, while all market studies that meet the guidelines described above will be accepted by the Peruvian PTO´s management of Economic Studies, the Commission of Distinctive Signs is still which will evaluate and determine whether the sign in question is the well-known quality.

Carmen Sánchez-Puelles