Our Trademark and Patent Office has finally implemented the WIPO DAS for trademarks and designs in resolution 262/2023 issued today.
The same modifies resolution 268, published back in 2019 when the system started to be in force only for patent and utility model applicants. Luckily, after a successful implementation, the date for their entry in force in other substantive areas has finally arrived.
This system aims to facilitate access of the participating offices to priority documents to meet the requirement of Article 4 of the Paris Convention.
The advantages of this system include the secure exchange of documents and the possibility of avoiding sending original documents (and the costs involved in this procedure) by providing an access code at the time of filing the application. This code will be then employed by the receiving IP Office to download the document of the first deposit in the country of origin of the application.
The resolution states that Argentina will first become an Accessing Office, that is to say that foreign applicants can inform the access code in national applications as from September 1st, 2023. It has also been scheduled that as from November 1st, 2023, domestic applicants will be able to request the code to claim priority abroad, becoming, then, a Depositing office.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that filing a sworn translation performed by an Argentine sworn translator is still mandatory for all priority documents. Therefore, if the priority is not in Spanish, a copy of the priority document must be provided to execute the translation. In other words, a copy of the priority document is still required since only IP offices can retrieve the certificate employing the DAS CODE.
We expect the trademark and design office to issue further clarifications regarding its implementation and, as soon as further information is available, we will revert to you.
