Barbarian invasions: works protected by copyright claimed as trademarks

Abstract

Trademarks and copyrights are different types of intellectual property rights. They are intended to guarantee the exclusive exploitation of immaterial goods. Trademarks protect distinctive signs that are used to identify goods and services in the market. On the other hand, copyrights protect literary and artistic works. Despite the differences between them, copyright works have been claimed as trademarks, overlapping the guaranteed protection of distinctive signs. This article aims to analyze the problems of overprotection such as those involving cumulative protection of copyright and trademarks based on cases extracted from the database of the Brazilian National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI), comparing these with the literature on trademarks and copyrights. Drawing conclusions, it is understood that the use of the trademark system to protect copyright work may not be interesting for the proper balance of the intellectual property system, mitigating the public interest that justifies the recognized protection.