Intellectual property lawyers in Argentina: registering, exploiting and defending

Raskovsky y Asociados advises companies on protecting their intangible assets: trademarks, content, software, developments and know-how. We act at the registration stage, on the contractual side and in litigation, applying one common criterion: intellectual property is a business asset and is managed as such, not as an isolated formality.

In practice, the most frequent problem is not a lack of available legal protection: it is that the company never defined what it protects, in whose name and for how long. Sorting that out is the first conversation we have.

Trademarks: register before you need to

In Argentina exclusive rights over a trademark are acquired through registration, under Law 22,362, and are processed before the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI). Using a name for years without registering it does not create the same protection: it creates prior use, which helps, but from a far weaker position.

The work starts before the application is filed. A properly conducted prior-rights search avoids investing in an identity that cannot later be sustained, and correct classification defines the real scope of protection: registering the mark only for the current line of business leaves the door open when the company expands into an adjacent product.

Oppositions and trademark disputes

An opposition is the stage at which the owner of an earlier trademark resists the registration of a new one. A company can find itself on either side: receiving an opposition against its own application, or having to oppose a third-party filing that comes too close to its identity.

Not every opposition ends in a fight. A good share is resolved through coexistence agreements setting out lines of business, presentations or territories of use. That negotiation is usually faster and cheaper than the contentious route, and leaves both parties with a registration in force. Where there is no room to agree, we pursue the dispute in the appropriate forum.

Copyright, software and content

Works are protected by Law 11,723 from the moment they are created, with no need to register. Registration before the National Copyright Office does not create the right, but it is the evidence that settles the discussion when a conflict over authorship or dates arises. In a sale or a licensing deal, the buyer will ask for that documentation.

The points we review most often:

• Ownership of the software: who wrote it and whether it was expressly assigned to the company
• Work by vendors and freelancers, where the assignment is rarely drafted properly
• Works created by employees and how they fit within the employment relationship
• Third-party material embedded in the product: music, images, fonts and libraries
• Moral rights, which cannot be assigned and condition how the work may be modified

Patents, designs and trade secrets

Not everything invented is patented, and not everything patentable is worth patenting. A patent requires disclosing the invention in exchange for temporary exclusivity under Law 24,481; a trade secret protects for as long as the information stays confidential, backed by Law 24,766. Choosing between them is a business decision before a legal one, and we take it with the client looking at the product life cycle.

In parallel, industrial design protects shape and appearance, a front that often stays off the radar and that in consumer products is precisely where differentiation is decided. And where the asset is exploited by third parties, the licence is the instrument: territorial scope, exclusivity, quality control, royalties and what happens to the material produced once the relationship ends.

Infringement: what can be done

When a third party uses the trademark, copies the product or distributes the content without authorization, the response is built around the facts and the urgency:

• A formal cease-and-desist letter, which in many cases resolves the matter on its own
• Preliminary injunctions to stop the use while the merits are argued
• Damages claims for unauthorized exploitation
• Action against infringing goods, including customs enforcement
• Takedown claims before platforms for infringing listings and profiles

Which route to take depends on three things: how much harm the use is causing, how solid your own title is and whether the infringer has the means to respond. We prefer to say that plainly before starting an action that may cost more than the problem.

Why choose us for your intellectual property

The file is handled by a partner. In intellectual property that matters because today’s registration decisions determine what can be defended five years from now, and someone needs to have the whole portfolio in view. We work alongside registered industrial property agents where a specific licence is required, and coordinate with foreign counsel when protection has to extend beyond Argentina.