The last IP Days@Técnico session of 2019, organised by the Intellectual Property Office (NPI) at Técnico, took place this Thursday, 12th December, and focused on “Brand and Design”. Francisca Carvalho, trainer and patent examiner at the Portuguese Institute of Industrial Property (INPI), clarified some doubts on brand registration and design.

Patrícia Lima, coordinator of NPI, shared the work developed so far concerning the dissemination of Intellectual Property. “These session are intended to clarify the stakeholders about some procedures and regulations. They have gone very well so it is our intention to continue next year”.

Francisca Carvalho captivated the participants’ attention and addressed the following topics: Protect a brand by registering it as a trade mark and their importance to the customer. “The brand has a very important business function that helps consumers to identify products”, she said.

Brand slogans with words, symbols, sound or multimedia are some categories. “Trademark rights have a territorial character, meaning that protection will be in force only in the country where the trademark is registered”, explained Francisca Carvalho. “The term of legal protection is 10 years and it may be continuously renewed for another 10 years”, added the patent examiner.