The Inter-American Program disseminates inter-American law through an inter-American legal information system that uses the latest technologies, including the Internet. The nearly 30-year-old course on international law, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, under the auspices of the Inter-American Juridical Committee (IAJC) and the Secretariat for Legal Affairs, has been enhanced to offer subregional and regional courses on inter-American law. In order to adapt to different legal systems, the OAS sponsors the “Jornadas de Derecho Internacional”. More Jornadas are expected to take place in the coming years. The Inter-American Program recognizes the clear need to promote legal publications, but unfortunately the Secretariat has less budgetary resources to maintain such a program. Adapting to different legal systems is not a new or radical idea. In fact, the OAS has been grappling with the practical difficulties of such coexistence for years. OAS member states, for example, represent “several major legal systems, including, but not limited to, common law (and its differences between UCC practice, English-speaking Canadian common law jurisdictions, and Caribbean common law states)[;] civil law of the Latin American tradition and civil law of the French tradition in Quebec”. The OAS Secretariat frequently conducts comparative studies of member states in order to direct its activities towards the unification and harmonization of member states` legislation in the areas of public and private international law, including the legal aspects of regional economic integration. OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria recently restructured the Secretariat for Legal Affairs to focus the efforts of jurists on developing public and private international law and strengthening judicial cooperation with member states. In a speech delivered in Montevideo, Uruguay, in October 1999, I outlined the Secretariat`s legal agenda for the immediate future, one that necessarily includes the various legal systems of the hemisphere. The Mexico Conference was a diplomatic effort that combined model legal methods based on the UCC and the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the Sale of Goods with a contractual approach to legal cooperation.
The purpose of the OAS Conference of the Coexistence Agreement is to set out the agreement of the owners of contested trademarks on the use of the marks. In most cases, the coexistence agreement limits the use of similar marks to certain geographical areas or types of goods or products. Among the best-known examples is the California Raisins Coexistence Agreement. In the early 1910s, there was a dispute among California raisins growers over the “Sun-Maid” and “Sun-Kist” brands. In 1917, the respective parties settled their dispute by concluding a coexistence agreement. Under this contract, it was agreed that the California Associated Raisin Company would only use the “Sun-Maid” mark on raisins and foods containing raisins. Otherwise, “Sun-Kist” and “Sun-Maid” were taboo. The phenomenon known as globalization forces some cooperation between the various major legal systems of the world, especially between the civil law system and the common law system here in America. In Montevideo, in 1999, I described “globalization” as “the series of trends aimed at expanding a range of economic activities on a global scale, scientific and technological advances, effects on culture and, in particular, the profound political changes of recent decades”. I maintain that it is fundamental that the Organization of American States be the forum of choice for legal cooperation in the hemisphere, because all the countries of the Americas are represented.
The Secretary General of the OAS made this point in a 1996 report: Despite the small number of countries in both countries that have ratified many of these OAS treaties, I believe that efforts to harmonize the law and promote legal cooperation between the different legal systems of the OAS and elsewhere will continue. if only for legal matters. arising from international commercial transactions. Some of these topics include: (1) drafting legal agreements and conflict resolution; (2) intellectual property protection; (3) health and safety standards and product liability (particularly in light of the tort system in the United States); (4) establishing foreign operations consistent with legal and tax objectives; (5) transfer pricing; (6) grey market channels; (7) dumping; (8) ethics of international affairs; (9) environmental concerns; and (10) whether certain domestic laws, such as non-discrimination in the workplace, apply to an enterprise`s activities abroad. Globalization and new technologies make this list an urgent agenda. Revision Legal is a full-service intellectual property law firm that provides legal services related to trademarks, patents, copyrights, trade secrets and all types of litigation. You can reach us using the form on this page or by phone at 855-473-8474. In the second half of the 20th century, we saw very mixed results with respect to common law and civil law nations operating under the same legal regime. The results achieved so far in the area of international trade transactions have been particularly disappointing. While we can say that the OAS` efforts have been disappointing in the trade environment, there are encouraging signs of optimism.
The drafting of inter-American legislation in the late 20th century took a more pragmatic approach than previous legal cooperation efforts in America. The coexistence agreement could also be envisaged, since the applicant does not appear to claim any commercial activity outside the United States. Territorial delimitation, both in the physical and digital worlds, could therefore be considered. The attempt to harmonize and codify private international law in this hemisphere is a somewhat bumpy one. The promotion of legal cooperation between common law and civil law member States is not always successful if the conventional approach is the approach adopted. For example, so far there have been only five signatures and only two ratifications of the Inter-American Convention on the Law Applicable to International Treaties or the Mexico City Convention. This convention aimed to “facilitate international treaties by developing and codifying existing principles of private international law. [It] therefore incorporates elements of the UCC. [Uniform Commercial Code in the United States], C.I.S.G. [United Nations Convention on Contracts for the Sale of Goods] and Merchant Law.
Second, the objective of the [treaty] is to promote the harmonization of results in international trade. Over time, it will become clear “that traditional domestic regulation will be largely ineffective and that global or more often regional agreements are needed to meet the legal challenges of the new global economic order.” The lack of harmonization and development of commercial law for private transactions in the transnational sphere “could mean a potentially large volume of cross-border trade. do not occur or may occur on more restricted trade routes or at higher costs and less competitive conditions. A trademark coexistence agreement must contain the following elements: As can also be seen, trademark coexistence agreements are enforced in court. See also Am. Eagle Outfitters v. Lyle & Scott Ltd., 584 F.3d 575 (3d Cir. 2009) (stating that the parties` agreement to consent to the registration of the other party`s eagle marks was a binding contract); Waukesha Hygeia Mineral Springs Co. v. Hygeia Sparkling Distilled Water Co., 63 F. 438 (7th Cir. 1894) (Application of an agreement that “establishes and defines the existing mark of each party – one to the trademark `Hygeia` associated with distilled water and the other in conjunction with natural mineral water or spring water).
