Colombia. The Superintendency of Industry and Commerce (SIC) denied the implementation of the brand "Limpio Total", owned by the company Indimarket S.A.S. considering that it lacks distinctive force and that the consumer would not identify a specific product or associate it with a certain business origin.

Limpio Total sought to distinguish itself in products in Class 3 of the International Nice Classification, which denotes bleaching preparations and other laundry substances; preparations for cleaning, polishing, degreasing and scraping; non-medicinal soaps; non-medicinal toothpastes, toiletries and cleaning products.

The opposition request was made by Clorox de Colombia S.A. arguing that "Limpio Total cannot be subject to appropriation to identify cleaning products, because by itself it does not individualize the products in class 3 that are intended to be distinguished," said the opponent.

Ángela Amaya, Partner of Amaya Intellectual Property, commented that "the requested sign Limpio Total lacks distinctiveness, since the consumer would find a characteristic of the cleaning sector, but not with a specific product".

Faced with these requests, Indimarket S.A.S. responded to the opposition by saying that "the expression Limpio Total, requested in mixed form, is perfectly registrable because it is the combination of two expressions that together create a distinctive expression". In addition, in his defense he added that they do not intend to appropriate the expression used because it is evocative and not generative.

Superindustria added that the requested sign uses expressions that cannot be appropriate, since it involves the activities that companies use to market their products in the toilet area.
For the reasons stated above, the opposition of Clorox of Colombia was declared founded and the registration of Limpio Total was denied.

Source: Legal Affairs.