Mitrani, Caballero & Ruiz Moreno provides expert advice to clients on registration, protection and licensing of patents, trademarks, trade secrets, copyrights, software, entertainment content and technology. While we provide full intellectual property legal services, the firm is best known for handling sophisticated and complex matters, including cross-border licensing, transactional services and coordination of complex multi-jurisdictional litigation.

General Intellectual Property Advice

Our intellectual property team regularly represents and advises clients on several intellectual property-related legal issues, including:

• Advertising and Entertainment. Our Intellectual Property team advises clients on advertising and entertainment content, music performance rights and sampling clearance, defamation, copyright, trademark, privacy and publicity rights and regulatory compliance, implementation of legal and commercial strategies to prevent and negotiate potential conflicts, including complaints taken to the Argentine Advertising Self-Regulatory Body (CONARP).
• Branding Strategies. We provide advice on the adoption, use, acquisition and protection of trademarks, commercial names and domain names, including analyzing the availability of trademarks; monitoring the use and protection status of registered trademarks around the world.
• Geographical Indications and Labels. We advise clients in the beverages industries on intellectual property-related issues, including branding, geographical indications, protection of label designs and bottle and packaging configurations.
• Internet and Computer. We regularly draft and negotiate information technology-related contracts, including software and database development, licensing and distribution, outsourcing and network management agreements. We also provide legal assistance in connection with Internet-based services, including website development agreements, co-branding agreements, on-line trading, e-commerce transactions and content distribution on the internet.
• Personality Rights. We represent famous individuals seeking to generate earnings from the commercial exploitation of their image and reputation, and provide advice on licensing names and depictions of famous individuals and fictitious characters.
• Publishing Law. We assist clients on the development and implementation of legal and commercial strategies regarding publishing and multimedia products, with special focus on contracts, fair use, publicity and privacy rights, Internet law, electronic rights, trademarks and copyrights.
• Sports Law. We provide sports law advice to athletes, agents and managers, as well as to regulatory authorities.
• Trade Secrets. We assist clients on the development and implementation of comprehensive plans aimed at protecting trade secrets and other confidential or proprietary plan information; drafting and negotiation of non-compete and non-disclosure agreements, confidentiality agreements and invention assignment arrangements. In addition, we represent clients on trade secret misappropriation cases, unfair competition, and related claims.

Prosecution, registration and protection of industrial property rights

Our lawyers and patent & trademark agents in this area of practice daily assist clients on the prosecution, registration and protection of all types of industrial property rights, including copyrights, plant variety rights, domain names, trademarks, industrial models and design rights applications, and patents of invention and utility models.

• Copyrights. We protect clients’ creative works (including, text, video, graphical arts, music, software programs, etc.) through copyright registration and prosecution, both domestically and internationally.
• Domain Names. We assist clients in connection with the protection, registration, acquisition and use of internet domain names.
• Industrial Models and Designs. We handle the drafting, filing and prosecution and registration of industrial models and design rights applications.
• Patents of Invention, Utility Models and Plant Variety Rights. We draft, file and prosecute patents of invention, utility models and plant variety patents in Argentina and other jurisdictions through our worldwide network.
• Trademarks. In addition to handling the initial trademark clearance proceedings and providing advice on the appropriate use of trademarks and brand names, we represent clients, in Argentina and in other jurisdictions through our worldwide network, on trademark administrative proceedings relating to the filing and prosecution of trademarks. We also monitor trademark use by third parties.

Intellectual Property Transactional Work

We assist our clients on audits, due diligence processes and preparation and negotiation of contracts in connection with domestic and cross-border commercial transactions involving the acquisition or licensing of intellectual property and technology. As part of that work, we are used to auditing intellectual property portfolios; advising clients on the best strategies to protect their intellectual property assets and maximize their value; assisting clients in determining the valuation of their intellectual property assets; conducting intellectual property due diligence in intellectual property transactions; and drafting and negotiating licensing and technology transfer arrangements.

Intellectual Property Litigation

Our team has substantial experience in court and out-of-court proceedings, including alternative dispute resolution proceedings. Our intellectual property attorneys handle, among others, claims and conflicts involving:

• comparative and false advertising before Argentine and overseas courts;
• copyright infringement proceedings;
• internet and domain names, such as linking, framing and meta-tagging under the Uniform Name Dispute Resolution Policy created by ICANN, NIC Argentina and before the courts;
• patents of invention, plant patents, industrial models, designs and utility models, related to several technological industries, including telecommunications, computers, electronics and biotechnology; and
• trademarks in Argentina and in other jurisdictions, handled through our worldwide network, including, opposition procedures, infringement actions, nullity and cancellation actions and trademark misappropriation.

Cross-border Intellectual Property Protection

Our intellectual property practice is frequently chosen as lead coordinating counsel to assist clients in developing and implementing regional or worldwide protection strategies for their intellectual property portfolios, coordinating patents, trademark and copyright registration filings and prosecution, protection and enforcement in multiple jurisdictions.