/ Protecting Music in Chile: Sound Trademarks, Copyright and Related Rights
April 21, 2025Carla Pacheco – Patent and Trademark Director
Hernán Torres – Senior Associate
Every year, we celebrate World Intellectual Property Day on April 26. In 2025, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has chosen to highlight how creativity and innovation, backed by intellectual property rights, help preserve a musical landscape that benefits everyone.[1] This is a timely opportunity to examine how our local legislation has established mechanisms to protect these intangible musical assets.
Music is explicitly recognized as a protected subject matter under Law No. 17,336 on Copyright, which states that “[m]usical compositions, with or without lyrics”[2] are specially protected by law. This provision clearly affirms the protection granted under Chilean law to musical works and songs through copyright.
Law No. 17,336 also recognizes related rights to copyright, granted to performers, artists, and musicians. These have been described by Walker Echenique as “the set of rights granted by law to performers, producers of phonograms, and broadcasting or television organizations.”[3] Thus, a single song or musical work may involve a broad range of coexisting rights, such as when it is performed or fixed in a phonogram.
Multiple rights may apply to a single piece of music, including: copyright over the musical text and the combination of sounds; related rights held by the performer; rights of the phonogram producer regarding the fixation of the performed or interpreted work, among other possible rights.
Professor Santiago Schuster describes this phenomenon clearly, stating: “Your song is the literary text, the specific combination of words and idioms that make it what it is. And the musical text, the combination of sounds you’ve shaped, is the song. […] At this very moment, your song might be performed live at a bar, played on the radio in Japan, or even being translated into German. It’s the same song—there is no other—it’s still your song. Each time it sounds different, there may be many interpretations, […] but your song remains the same.”[4]
The Birth of the Sound Trademark
The 2005 amendment to the Industrial Property Law introduced new forms of protection for music and melodies, expanding the scope to now include industrial property rights. A melody—or a part of one—is no longer understood merely as an expression of personality, but also as a commercial asset that may require protection if it can be considered distinctive and is used to identify specific goods or services in the marketplace.
This gave rise to the concept of sound trademarks in Chilean legislation, i.e. musical creations recognized as trademarks. WIPO defines sound marks as: “Marks that may consist of musical sounds, whether preexisting or created specifically for the purpose of trademark registration.”[5] In Chile, we now see music and melodies protected through the lens of industrial property, such as the well-known “Pascua Feliz para Todos” melody by Falabella[6]; the catchy jingle linked to the soft drink Kem Piña[7]; or the signature tune of Allianz SE, which was the first sound mark ever registered in Chile, achieved by Alessandri Abogados team[8].
The recognition of sound trademarks opened up a new avenue of protection for the music industry, extending legal safeguards to memorable and distinctive musical phrases, and also marked a landmark moment in Chilean law. The acknowledgment of sound marks became the first form of “non-traditional” trademark to be recognized in the country.
According to the Trademark Procedure Manual of the National Institute of Industrial Property (INAPI), a sound mark is: “A sound that has the capacity to identify a particular business origin and that may be registered as a trademark.” This definition highlights the importance of distinctiveness as a core requirement for sound or music to be protected under trademark law.
All these forms of protection are complementary. The rights granted under Law No. 17,336 (copyright and related rights) do not conflict with those recognized by the Industrial Property Law or other applicable legal provisions[9]. This is because each legal framework has different objectives, scopes, and perspectives. However, both laws grant exclusive and enforceable rights to their respective rights holders, allowing them to control the use of the protected work or asset within their specific areas of application.
In the event of infringement, both Law No. 17,336 and Law No. 19,039 provide for specific enforcement mechanisms. Violators may face civil and criminal liability, offering a robust legal framework to safeguard the holders of these intangible rights.
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[1] https://www.wipo.int/es/web/ipday/2025/index
[2] Article 3, No. 4, Law 17,336.
[3] Walker Echenique, Elisa. Manual de Propiedad Intelectual. Editorial Legal Publishing (2024). P. 8.
[4] Carrasco, Eduardo. La Gesta del Derecho de Autor en Chile. Conversaciones con Santiago Schuster. Editorial Catalonia (2025) P. 72.
[5] https://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/sct/es/sct_19/sct_19_2.pdf
[6] Registered Trademark at INAPI, No. 906093.
[7] Registered Trademark at INAPI, No. 1242850.
[8] Trademark currently expired in INAPI, Reg. No. 775485. It should be noted that this was the first registration of a sound mark in Chile, obtained by Alessandri Abogados.
[9] Law 17,336, Art. 89- The rights granted by this law to the holders of copyright and related rights do not affect the protection granted to them by the Industrial Property Law and other legal provisions in force that are not expressly repealed.