500,000 Chilean brands will be added to the WIPO database

By Aguayo, Ecclefield & Martínez (AEM Law Firm)

Chile is the first South American country to join the largest database of trademarks in the world, the Global Brand Database of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), after a cooperation agreement between the WIPO and the National Institute of Industrial Property (Inapi) of Chile was signed in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 16.

The Global Brand Database is a gateway to more than 30,040,000 trademark records from 35 national and international collections. It allows to simply browse trademarks in different markets or for researchers to know whether if which similar or identical trademarks exist before filing an application.

Chile, the second Latin American country to join the system after Mexico, will incorporate the data corresponding to approximately 500,000 trademark applications and registrations granted by Inapi between January 2006 and May 2017. As of this date, Inapi will update that data monthly.

The incorporation of those 500,000 trademarks will give Chile´s brands, companies, businessmen and inventors a huge visibility beyond the national level, while also making it easier for worldwide Industrial Property offices to know the criteria applied by Inapi in trademark cases.

"From the government perspective it confirms the multilateral vocation of our country to promote the integration into free multilateral systems that benefit all people", said Inapi national director, Maximiliano Santa Cruz.