The New Challenge For Companies: How To Protect Non-Traditional Trademarks

In a globalized and competitive world, large companies and their advertising agencies face the challenge of capturing the consumer's attention beyond traditional visual advertising. They engage all five senses to distinguish between different brands in the market. These trademarks include sound, animation, tactile, gestures, position, holographs, movement, and smell, among others.

Thanks to the success of this new publicity strategy, protecting non-traditional trademarks has increased in importance, particularly in regards to defending and positioning them in the market.

This trend can be seen here in Colombia. Recently, businessmen have expressed serious interest in registering this kind of trademark, identifying their products and markets, and distinguishing them, in the consumer's mind, from other products on the market.

The most significant challenge that has risen in protecting these brands is complying with the differentiation requirement that Decision #486 of 2000 by the Comunidad Andina mandates. This requirement enables the consumer to identify and distinguish one product from...