/ LatinLawyer: Alessandri wins cemetery trademark case in Chile

Tuesday, 14th December 2010 by Marieke Breijer

Chile’s Alessandri & Cía has helped Consorcio Parque Cementerio de Concepción obtain a favourable ruling from the Santiago Court of Appeals in a trademark and unfair competition case over a cemetery concession dating back to 2007.

The Appeals Court’s decision, made on 2 December, enforces a first instance ruling made by Santiago’s 13th Civil Court that found property company Inmobiliaria Parque San Pedro guilty of unfair competition for registering the Parque Concepción trademark and subsequently taking the Consorcio Parque Cementerio de Concepción to court in 2008, demanding the cemetery consortium cease from using the trademark.

San Pedro sought advice from Estudio Anselmo Aguayo in the case, which will now be sent to the Chilean antitrust commission, Fiscalía Nacional Económica.

The dispute stems from a bidding process initiated by the municipality of Concepción for the construction of a park-like cemetery to be named Parque Concepción in 2005. Though the bid was awarded to Consorcio Parque Cementerio de Concepción, its rival, San Pedro, registered the trademark Parque Concepción in 2006 when the bid was still taking place.

Since Chilean law does not grant trademark rights by the simple use of a name, the case is significant in that the courts ruled that an infringement action deriving from the registration of a trademark is unfair competition.

“We claimed that the court action initiated against our client was contrary to commercial ethics, aimed at preventing the use of the name given to the project and intending to hold back a competitor from market participation while misdirecting clientele,’ says Rodrigo Velasco Alessandri of Alessandri & Compañía, who also represented the municipality of Concepción.

Counsel to Consorcio Parque Cementerio de Concepción and the municipality of Concepción

• Alessandri & CíaPartners Fernando Jamarne and Rodrigo Velasco Alessandri, and associate Bernardita Dittus

Counsel to Inmobiliaria Parque San Pedro

• Estudio Anselmo AguayoPartner Andrés Aguayo