ARGENTINA Law and Practice Contributed by: Santiago R O’Conor, Gisela M Russo, Gisela M Manrique and Ayelen Rocio Velaz, O’Conor & Power
3.9 Refusal of Registration The DNDA shall reject works that by their nature are not registrable as copyright and works that have been created by artificial intelligence, as well as those that lack originality. Decisions of the DNDA may be appealed in accord - ance with the provisions of Law No 19.549. 3.10 Related Rights Certain cases, such as titles of films, books or car - toons, etc, may be protected both as a trade mark and a copyright. To obtain trade mark rights, the latter must be reg - istered. The registration of a trade mark guarantees the owner ownership of the trade mark. It enables the owner to exercise all necessary actions to prevent non-authorised third-party use and the marketing of identical or similar goods or services with the same trade mark or using a name so similar that it may cre - ate confusion among consumers. The registration of a trade mark also protects against partial or complete imitations, including names, words, signs or advertising phrases, as well as their designs and colours. 4. Trade Mark Registrations and Applications 4.1 Trade Mark Registration The trade mark owner may authorise their use by third parties through licence agreements, both exclusive and non-exclusive, sell the trade mark in whole or in part, or obtain credits by offering them as collateral through a pledge registration. Following Resolution No 583/2025, trade mark holders must take a more active role. Obtaining registration no longer guarantees the same level of legal certainty as before. Without an exhaustive ex officio substantive examination, registrations may be more vulnerable to future invalidation actions brought by third parties with superior rights.
The application for the registration of a collective marks with the National Institute of Industrial Prop - erty (INPI) may only be applied for and owned by a single group of producers and/or service providers registered in the National Registry of Local Develop - ment and Social Economy Entities. There is not a different standard for registering differ - ent types of marks. 4.2 Trade Mark Register In Argentina, the body in charge of the registration and administration of trade mark prosecution is the INPI. The INPI has only one registry; there are no comple - mentary or secondary registers. It has a public data - base that allows users to search for an identical trade mark by exact words or by marks that begin with or contain that word, including both current and expired registrations. It also allows searches by headings. Searching by word is not useful when performing a prior search to determine the registrability of a trade mark. To address this, the INPI offers word, graphic and phonetic searches for a fee. In addition special - ised IP law firms in the field provide search services which allow for the search of more in-depth marks. It is highly advisable to conduct a search before filing a trade mark application. 4.3 Term of Registration The term of validity of a trade mark is ten years from the date of registration, renewable indefinitely for consecutive ten-year periods. A trade mark can be renewed from six months prior to the expiration date, up to six months after that date (grace period). There are two requirements that must be met in order to renew a trade mark: the filing of the Mid-Term Dec - laration of Use (MTDU) and the filing of the Sworn Declaration of Use (SDU), confirming the use of the trade mark during the five years prior to its expiration. It is not possible to modify and/or amend the trade mark at the time of renewal, nor to extend or amend the goods or services it protects; however it is possi - ble to update the owner’s address and renounce prod -
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