Region: Bolivia

The Court of Justice of the Andean Community determined that, unless expressly forbidden by law, Andean countries should accept evidence of use at any time during cancellation proceedings - including the appeal stages.

17 October 2022

The Andean Court of Justice has provided guidelines on the application of Article 166 of Decision 486, which concerns the extent to which a trademark may be used in a form differing from the one registered.

14 June 2022

The Bolivian Patent and Trademark Office will have to modify its practice and views regarding the showing of genuine interest in opposition proceedings following the issuance of a prejudicial interpretation by the Andean Court of Justice.

13 December 2021

The issuance of Interpretation 225-ip-2019 by the Andean Court of Justice is a welcome development for IP rights owners in Bolivia, as it should put an end to the onerous and unpredictable demands for evidence of use in cancellation actions.

07 October 2020

Protecting brands against parasitic trademarks can raise numerous challenges in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru – but there are ways to overcome them.

08 July 2020

While protecting brands against bad-faith applications can throw up numerous challenges, a strong national regime offers various ways to overcome these

25 June 2020

The Bolivian Patent and Trademark Office was caught off-guard when the country was put into lockdown. The office has never offered or prepared for the provision of online services, and the actions taken in response to the lockdown arguably caused more problems than they solved.

16 June 2020

The Andean Court of Justice has issued prejudicial opinions stating that the courts of the Andean Community countries should take a more liberal approach when considering what amounts to use of a mark within the context of a cancellation action.

14 February 2020

In an arguably controversial decision, the Bolivian Patent and Trademark Office has allowed the registration of a 3D trademark representing the official 2018 World Cup ball for goods in Class 28 in the name of adidas AG.

04 October 2019

Until now, the Bolivian Patent and Trademark Office had interpreted Article 165 of Decision 486 as meaning that use of a mark had to be shown for each of the three consecutive years making up the relevant period. However, in a welcome development for mark owners, the Andean Tribunal recently reached an opposite conclusion.

04 March 2019