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What does counterfeit of trademark mean?

In order to secure the property of a trademark, it is necessary the grant of a registration application by the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BPTO), insuring its holder the protection and the exclusive use of such trademark over the National Territory.

Counterfeit or acts of counterfeit of a trademark is nothing else than all the wrong practices consisting in the disrespect to the exclusive right, which the holder of a certain mark holds before the BPTO.

The subject-matter has an extreme importance in the globalized world, having in mind the ever increasing falsification of the marks, its undue use, in addition to hypo sufficiency of the consumer in general, which becomes a target of falsified products or which is led to confusion of the fidelity of the trademarks.

It must be highlighted that, in the cases of the occurrence of the reproduction of a mark in a certain product or service, where a third party uses a distinctive symbol, which the other mark holds, the consumer acquires a consumption object equivocally, certain as it is of being purchasing and acquiring a product or legitimate service bearing the quality and guarantee of the holder which is entitled to the exclusive use of the trademark being reproduced.

In this regard, for analyzing and identifying the cases where there is the practice of the counterfeit, it is necessary to highlight the distinctiveness of the marks counterfeited, with a view to perceiving the similarities between the legitimate marks and the one counterfeited.

Therefore, it is incontestable that the practice of counterfeit act of marks and unfair competition, cause innumerous damage to the holder of the registration and the mark per se, many a time occasioning damage which goes beyond the decrease of the consumption of the product or the legitimate service by the consuming market. Hence, these practices may cause damage such as the depreciation of the mark before the corporate means and the consuming public.

Carmen Sánchez-Puelles