If you are planning to launch a product or brand on the Peruvian market, you are going to need to go through trademark registration in Peru in order to guarantee your competitive edge and protect yourself from imitation.
Your corporate lawyer in Peru will be able to help you with this process, as well as many other aspects of market entry and ongoing operations in the country, such as company formation and visa processing.
Peru is a popular destination for foreign investment, and while the economy suffered during the global COVID-19 pandemic, it is already bouncing back, with the World Bank recently predicting that gross domestic product (GDP) will grow 11.3% in 2021.
The country is well-known as a producer of gold, copper, and agricultural goods, and is also home to a growing professional services sector, which in 2019 contributed more than 54% of GDP.
In 2020, Peru’s GDP was registered at $202.01 billion (all figures in USD) — a significant decline on the previous year, prior to the pandemic hitting, but one which still places the country as the sixth-largest economy in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Notably, foreign direct investment (FDI) as a percentage of GDP has followed a fluctuating but general upward trajectory over recent years — rising from 1.57% of GDP in 2000 to 3.89% of GDP in 2019 — pointing to the increasing interest the country attracts from international capital.
Peru is also a trade hub, and founding member of the Pacific Alliance — a decade-old economic association that also includes Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, which is making ambitious moves to expand into the Asia-Pacific region.
It is also a member of the Andean Community of Nations (CAN) — a regional association focused on eliminating trade barriers that also includes Bolivia, Colombia, and Ecuador.
In August, CAN introduced a freedom of movement statute offering potential benefits to resident businesses in all of the member states. Meanwhile, earlier this month the organization launched a regional trademark database that will see intellectual property from all four nations listed.
If you are keen to complete trademark registration in Peru, read on to understand more about why it is important, as well as a step-by-step guide to the process.
Or you could go ahead and contact us now to find out more about how we can assist you in doing business.
Why you need to protect your international property in Peru
Undertaking trademark registration in Peru provides you with the exclusive right to use your brand or product, therefore maintaining your competitive edge in the market.
That means you will have the exclusive right to transfer your rights to third parties, while also giving you legal recourse to challenge any company that seeks to use or imitate your intellectual property.
Trademark registration in Peru is overseen by the National Institute for the Defense of Competition and Intellectual Property (INDECOPI), and the items covered include:
- Brands
- Slogans
- Logos
- Products
- Symbols
- Geographical indications.
Failure to register your intellectual property could result in competitors copying you, or even registering a trademark that challenges your ability to continue trading a particular product or using a particular brand.
How to complete trademark registration in Peru
In order to complete trademark registration in Peru, you will need to go through the following five steps.
1. Conduct a trademark search
You must identify whether another company is already trading a product or brand that is similar to the one you want to register, in order to be able to make your application, and adjust it accordingly.
2. Submit the application form to INDECOPI
You will need to complete three copies of the form, two of which will be submitted to INDECOPI. Over the following month, that application will be reviewed and additional information or documentation requested if needed.
3. Respond to challenges
Part of the process of trademark registration in Peru involves your application being published in order for any opposition or counter claims on what you hope to register to be lodged. In the event of valid opposition to your application, you will need to be prepared to defend it.
4. Respond to refusal notice
Even when a challenge is not made, IDECOPI could refuse your application for trademark registration in Peru, and will provide you details on why it did so. In the event of such an outcome, you will have 15 working days to respond to that refusal in order to reassert your application. Where a challenge is made, you will have 30 working days to respond.
5. Renew your trademark registration in Peru
Your trademark will be valid for ten years once it has been granted, and at the end of that period you will need to renew your registration in order to maintain your intellectual property protection.
Biz Latin Hub can assist you with trademark registration in Peru
At Biz Latin Hub, our team of corporate support specialists is able to help you with trademark registration in Peru, among a host other back-office services that we offer.
Those include company formation, accounting & taxation, legal services, and visa processing, meaning that we can offer a tailored package of integrated services to suit your particular needs.
We also have teams in 15 other markets around Latin America and the Caribbean, and specialise in multi-jurisdiction market entry.
Contact us today to find out more about how we can help protect your intellectual property and support you doing business.
Or read about our team and expert authors.
