Obligatory Trademark Use Under Decision 486 of the Commission of the Andean Community

This paper analyzes the legal regime created by Decision 486 regarding compulsory trademark use from a jurisprudential and doctrinal perspective. It examines, from a general point of view, the duty of use, the legal concept of use, the legal exemptions from use and the cancellation action for non-use. Special emphasis is made on the criteria currently applied by the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce (the Colombian Trademark Office), the Peruvian Trademark Office (INDECOPI) and the Andean Tribunal of Justice regarding controversial issues such as the quantitative parameters that should be met in order for the use to be considered valid, the partial cancellation action and the cancellation of notorious marks.