[Wikimedia Brasil] WF Trademarks - Unauthorized registration attempt in Brazil
Joaquim Mariano da Costa Neto
joaquimmariano em yahoo.com.br
Terça Dezembro 30 18:40:29 UTC 2008
________________________________
De: "Key, Alisa C." <AKey em ssd.com>
Para: Joaquim Mariano da Costa Neto <joaquimmariano em yahoo.com.br>; Michael Wayne Godwin <mgodwin em wikimedia.org>
Cc: Wikimedia Brasil <wikimediabr-l em lists.wikimedia.org>; Douglas Isenberg <disenberg em gigalawfirm.com>; "Key, Alisa C." <AKey em ssd.com>
Enviadas: Terça-feira, 30 de Dezembro de 2008 12:29:15
Assunto: RE: WF Trademarks - Unauthorized registration attempt in Brazil
Dear Joaquim:
Thank you for this information. We are proceeding to
address the prior trademark applications you identified. The information
you provided below with respect to Wikipedia Brasil also is very helpful.
If we require additional information from you with respect to
Wikipedia Brasil or those prior applications, we will let you
know.
We do appreciate your assistance and bringing these
applications to our attention.
Kind regards and best wishes for a happy new
year,
Alisa
Alisa C.
Key
Squire, Sanders & Dempsey L.L.P.
8000 Towers Crescent
Drive/14th Floor
Tysons Corner, Virginia 22182-2700
(703)
720-7854
Fax: (703) 720-7801
akey em ssd.com
www.ssd.com
________________________________
From: Joaquim Mariano da Costa Neto
[mailto:joaquimmariano em yahoo.com.br]
Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2008
12:01 AM
To: Michael Wayne Godwin
Cc: Wikimedia Brasil; Key,
Alisa C.; Douglas Isenberg
Subject: Re: WF Trademarks - Unauthorized
registration attempt in Brazil
Dear
Mike,
1.
According to the Brazilian rules and regulations for Internet, only entities
based on Brazil are allowed to register domains with the Brazilian ccTLD (.br).
Foreign entities must have a local branch in Brazil to make such
registration.
2. A
temporary registration is granted to foreign companies that intend to open a
branch in Brazilian territory within the period of 12 months beginning with the
time when the application is filed at the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee
(CGI.br - Comitê Gestor da Internet no Brasil). In this case, the foreign
company must basically:
a)
have an attorney-in-fact in Brazil (with a written power of attorney officially
translated to Portuguese), which is responsible for the domain registration;
b)
present a statement (officially translated to Portuguese) by which the company
informs its own corporate name, full address, telephone number, corporate
purpose, operating activities, and the name and post title of the agent which is
able to act for the company;
c)
present a statement (officially translated to Portuguese) by which the company
commits itself to settle a branch in Brazil within 12 months; and
d)
fulfill some other minor conditions and formalities.
3.
Wikimedia Brasil is not formally and legally established as a Wikimedia Chapter.
Wikimedia Brasil has the approval of the Board of Trustees (resolution dated
October 2008), but is not legally structured and registered with our local
authorities yet. We believe that we still do not have critical mass to start and
maintain a full and registered entity in Brazil. We are currently working on all
Wikimedia projects and operating in accordance with all Wikimedia principles and
rules (in the same way as a local chapter), but we believe it would be unwise to
register Wikimedia Brasil as a legal person at this moment.
4. In
a pragmatic approach, we believe that the Wikimedia Foundation should
concentrate efforts on the primary problem, which is the trademark unauthorized
registration attempts. The domain registration is a secondary problem whose
solution may depend on the solution given to the trademark problem. This
suggestion is based on 4 main reasons.
4.1.
Apparently, the domain (wikipedia.com.br) is reserved by the CGI.br, while the
trademark registration processes are in course of analysis. Therefore, these
trademark applications are subject to approval at any moment.
4.2.
The companies that filed the trademark applications at the Industrial Property
National Institute (INPI - Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial)
probably intend to use the registration assent as evidence and justification to
disengage the domain that is currently reserved by the CGI.br.
4.3.
The Wikimedia Foundation (or the local chapter with the respective trademark
license agreement) will be able to easily disengage the domain by presenting to
the CGI.br the trademark officially registered by the Wikimedia Foundation
itself at the INPI.
4.4.
If the Wikimedia Foundation clearly consolidates position on its own trademarks
in Brazil (by officially registering them at the INPI, in addition to all other
international registrations), the CGI.br will prevent anyone other than
Wikimedia from registering any domain that contains trademark owned by the
Wikimedia Foundation.
5. In
any way, the Wikimedia Foundation may consider the possibility of registering
the domain in a temporary condition (item 2 above), while dealing with the
trademark issues and waiting for the registration of the Brazilian Chapter as
legal person. After the registration of the Wikimedia Brasil with our local
authorities, the Brazilian Chapter may succeed the Wikimedia Foundation as legal
holder of the domains in Brazil. This succession must occur within the 12-month
period granted to temporary registration.
6. We
apologize for presenting more problems than solutions, but we believe that you
should have a clear idea of the whole situation. As said before, we are at Alisa
disposal to assist her with any issue related to the Wikimedia projects in
Brazil. And I am beginning to translate to English some regulations for
registration of domain names in Brazil, in case you, Alisa and Doug need them to
decide how to proceed.
Best
regards,
Joaquim
________________________________
De: Mike Godwin
<mgodwin em wikimedia.org>
Para: Joaquim Mariano da Costa Neto
<joaquimmariano em yahoo.com.br>
Enviadas: Terça-feira, 23 de Dezembro de
2008 20:53:56
Assunto: Re: WF
Trademarks - Unauthorized registration attempt in
Brazil
Joaquim,
Can you determine what we need to do to
obtain wikipedia.com.br? If the registration needs to be made by a local
entity, we would be happy to support your chapter in doing
so.
--m
________________________________
De: Mike Godwin
<mgodwin em wikimedia.org>
Para: Joaquim Mariano da Costa Neto
<joaquimmariano em yahoo.com.br>
Cc: Wikimedia Brasil
<wikimediabr-l em lists.wikimedia.org>; Alisa C. Key <AKey em ssd.com>;
Doug Isenberg <disenberg em GigaLawFirm.com>
Enviadas: Terça-feira, 23 de Dezembro de
2008 18:55:03
Assunto: Re: WF
Trademarks - Unauthorized registration attempt in Brazil
Dear
Joaquim,
Alisa Key, whom I have cc'd on this e-mail, will be the lawyer
in charge of challenging the registration of wikipedia.com.br and wikipédia
trademarks in Brazil. As part of this process, I have authorized her to
begin pursuing our own trademark application in Brazil. Please feel free
to share with Alisa any information she requests about the trademark process as
it is proceeding now, and please copy me on any correspondence.
Doug
Isenberg will determine what to do with regard to the domain name
wikipedia.com.br -- I hope that the Foundation can register it directly, but, if
not, we may ask your chapter to help us.
We're very grateful that you
brought this to our attention!
--Mike Godwin
General
Counsel
Wikimedia Foundation
On Dec 17, 2008, at 6:40 PM, Joaquim
Mariano da Costa Neto wrote:
>
> Dear Michael Godwin,
>
> I am a Brazilian wikipedian and I am beginning to work
with our team of local volunteers. I am writing to inform you some issues
related to trademarks that may belong to the Wikimedia Foundation.
>
> In Brazil, the Industrial Property National Institute
(INPI - Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial) is the federal department
in charge of registering and controlling the intellectual property (which
includes trademarks).
>
> Yesterday, after a brief
research at the INPI website, I found that two Brazilian companies are trying to
register at INPI some trademarks that may belong to the Wikimedia Foundation. In
2006 and 2007, these two companies filed at the INPI the requests for
registering the following trademarks: www.wikipedia.com.br and wikipédia. It is
important to notice that one of the companies is not trying to register the
domain wikipedia.com.br: the company is just trying to register a trademark that
uses the expressionwww.wikipedia.com.br (with a specific logotype). I list below
the trademarks that may belong to the Wikimedia Foundation and the names of the
respective companies that filed the related requests for registering (with the
INPI file numbers and the dates of request in round brackets):
> -
www.wikipedia.com.br - Web Use Serviços Ltda. ME (900080442)
(10.nov.2006)
> - wikipédia - Wikipédia Distribuição de Conteúdo
Eletrônico Ltda. (900632860) (29.nov.2007)
>
> The
Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br - Comitê Gestor da Internet no
Brasil) is the Brazilian federal department in charge of registering and
controlling the Brazilian Internet domains, with jurisdiction over the country
code top-level domain designated for Brazil (.br). The CGI.br (which is not
related to the INPI) made the domain wikipedia.com.br unavailable for any entity
other than Wikipedia. Therefore, the current problem is not related to the
registration of the domain, but to the registration of the trademark that uses
the expression www.wikipedia.com.br.
>
> The requests
in question are still in analysis and the INPI did not decided to concede or
refuse the registrations.
>
> The Brazilian law states
that the request for registering a trademark may be opposed by proving that
similar or identical trademark already exists and is legally registered. In
other words, the Wikimedia Foundation may oppose the requests filed by the
above-mentioned companies at INPI.
>
> After the
concession, the registration may also be made null and void by proving that
similar or identical trademark exists and had been legally registered before the
request was filed.
>
> If you need any further
clarification, feel free to contact us. We are at your disposal to help.
>
> Kind regards,
>
>
Joaquim Mariano da Costa Neto
>
>
>
>
> Veja quais são os assuntos do momento no Yahoo! +
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