Intellectual Property

McConnell Valdés (McV) has the most accomplished Intellectual Property Practice Area in Puerto Rico. The objective of this Practice Area is the protection and enforcement of our clients' intellectual property rights. We assist and advise our clients in selecting and attaining the best form of protection for their trademarks, service marks, and copyrights under both United States and Puerto Rico intellectual property laws. This Area also coordinates for our clients the protection and enforcement of intellectual property in foreign jurisdictions by retaining and working closely with the most qualified attorneys in such jurisdictions.

The Intellectual Property Practice Area, comprised of attorneys from both the corporate and litigation practice groups of the firm, has been successful in obtaining injunctions against the importation of counterfeit, infringing and gray market products into Puerto Rico; injunctions in false advertisement cases; and injunctions in right-of-publicity cases. Attorneys in this Area represent clients in federal and local courts, before the Puerto Rico trademarks, commercial names, and moral rights registration agencies, and before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the Copyright Office to defend or oppose registrations.

The attorneys in this Area also represent clients before the Department of Consumer Affairs (DACO) defending them in cases commenced by consumers and from DACO penalties imposed for allegedly infringing the Regulation on Misleading Practices and Advertisements. The attorneys in this Area also assist clients with their advertisements, pre-prints@, store signs, discount charts, price-tags and shelf-tags, and other items in order to comply with DACO laws and regulations. The attorneys also assist clients with the drafting of contest rules to be in compliance with DACO Contests Regulation, and assist with the publication of the rules, the selection of the winners, the notices to the winners, the release agreements, and the Notarial Acts, also to be in compliance with DACO regulations.

The attorneys in this Area also assist clients with the drafting of sponsorship agreements, trademarks license agreement, and other types of agreements to protect their IP rights.

The attorneys in this Area are kept informed about the proposed IP laws and regulations and/or the proposed amendments thereto. When drafting most of those proposed laws and regulations and/or proposed amendments thereto, the government officials in charge of such projects request from us to provide comments and suggestions to the proposed laws and regulations and request assistance with the drafting of such laws and regulations. Some of us are currently drafting the new Trademarks Act of Puerto Rico and the Consumers Defense Code. In addition, we submitted proposed amendments to the new DACO Regulation on Misleading Practices and Advertisements, as we did in 2004 when such Regulation was last revised, and various proposals that we presented were included in the 2006 Regulation.

Intellectual Property Attorneys

Representative Cases and Matters