Dispelling some myths about unregistered trademark rights

While law students and attorneys are taught that trademark rights are granted to whomever first uses the mark in common law countries and whomever first registers the mark in civil law countries, this rule has many important exceptions. Bruce Horowitz of Paz & Horowitz shows that the first-to-file rule in Latin America does not exclude rights in unregistered marks, which creates a number of opportunities and risks for those wishing to protect their trademark rights.