BOLIVIA, COLOMBIA, ECUADOR AND PERU
CONCEPT REGARDING THE RELATION BETWEEN GOODS OR SERVICES OF THE SAME CLASS
In Prejudicial Interpretation 312-IP-2014, the Andean Community Court of Justice pointed out that the fact that goods or services belong to the same class does not indicate necessarily that there is a relation between them.
In order to determine the competitive relationship, the Judge must take into account the guidelines established by the doctrine, among which are marketing channels; similar advertising media; relationship between products; complementary or joint use and same type of products.
It was also noted that the judge should take into account the type of consumer or users, and their degree of attention when choosing the product on the market. Moreover, the degree of attention is related to the type of consumer, among which are: a) the professional or expert, b) elitist and experienced, c) the average consumer.
Finally, it was concluded that the consumer who should be considered to establish the possible risk of confusion between two marks is the so called average consumer, that is, the consumer who is supposed to have an ordinary knowledge.
