measures are granted, the plaintiff must file a main action within 15 days requesting a declaration of infringement of its intellectual property rights and an order that the defendant pay damages. It is also worth mentioning that there are no specialised intellectual property judges in Ecuador. Therefore, to protect copyrights, Ecuadorian law allows the authors to resort to both judicial and administrative remedies. In your years of practice, what trends have you observed in Ecuador’s IP law sphere? In general, trademark and copyright protection has increased over the last decade. It is worth mentioning that the IP OFFICE does apply the prejudicial interpretations of the Court of Justice of the Andean Community, which increases the legal certainty around the protection of IP rights in general and copyrights and trademarks in particular. However, on certain issues, such as the granting of patents of invention, the analysis made by the examiners is almost null and most patents that have been granted in countries of the region fail to be granted in Ecuador, although they use the same legislation. What key developments are occurring at the moment? It is worth noting that the criteria for compulsory licensing of patents have been well developed by the competent authority recently, which is the opposite of what happened in the previous decade. In its latest resolutions, there has been a clear application of the domestic legislation and a wide use of the prejudicial interpretations issued by the Court of Justice of the Andean Community. Regarding border measures, there has been a change since the authority before whom a request is filed is now the National Customs Service. This change means that internally, between the intellectual rights authority and the 82 LAWYER MONTHLY JUNE 2023 About José Meythaler Baquero José Meythaler is the president and main partner of Meythaler & Zambrano. He has advised several companies in public law, corporate law, intellectual property, competition law, investment arbitration, oil law, banking and pharmaceutical law. As a result of his successful career, he is recommended by several legal publications. He is a referee of the Mediation and Arbitration Centre of the Ecuadorian American Chamber of Commerce and has been president of the Intellectual Property Committee of the Ecuadorian American Chamber of Commerce since 2010. José Meythaler Baquero President Email: jmeythaler@lmzabogados.com
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