COVID-19’s effect on IP and D&I in Peru

In Peru, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the government and the National Institute for the Defense of Competition and Protection of Intellectual Property (INDECOPI) to implement the long-awaited modernisation of their proceedings.

Another advantage has been the widespread acceptance that the virtualisation of work—or at least part of it—was inevitable and that it represents savings in time and money, not only for employers but also for employees.

Working at home has allowed many families to spend more time together and for many parents to get closer to their children. The downside of working during the pandemic is that it has revealed how unequal our society is.

Many struggled to find a dedicated space to work, the equipment or the right ergonomics to face the long hours spent working at home, and faced stressful situations when having to deal with home-schooling during working hours if there was no help available.

Another drawback has been that the lack of physical interaction adversely affected people living on their own—socialising with our peers was sorely missed.

D&I in Peru

The good news is that the pandemic hasn’t affected IP’s diversity and inclusion (D&I) progress—and the budgets allocated to this—as much as expected. Some projects have been delayed but, in general, D&I has proved to be one of the top priorities on the private and the public sectors’ agendas.

As an example, INDECOPI has been working in the last years to promote gender equality and launched three publications focusing on women in IP: “Women in their brands” (“Mujeres en sus marcas”); “Peruvian women and patents: inventing the future”(“La mujer peruana y las patentes inventando el future”); and “Peruvian women and their works” (“La mujer peruana y sus obras”).

In 2020, Hania Perez de Cuellar became chair of the board of directors of INDECOPI. She has always been clear about her desire to achieve gender equality and to fight against discrimination. INDECOPI has already allocated funds for reaching these goals and is working in coordination with Peru’s Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations.

To progress, it’s necessary to create adequate channels of communication between workers and their employers to allow them to approach any problems or concerns together and in a manner that benefits everyone. It’s also important to continue with education campaigns to create secure spaces for women and minorities in the workplace and at home.

Pandemic working in IP

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Peru, lockdown orders caused a delay in the issuance of IP rights certificates, in decisions at a contentious level, and in the execution of infringement and enforcement actions, hearings, etc.

This was mainly because working at home policies by INDECOPI and public sector departments had not been fully developed.

This situation, however, forced the improvement/implementation of online services in all IP directorates and the implementation of home office working.

The INDECOPI also started using virtual tools for hearings, inspections, conciliations, etc. They created incentives for the registration of trademarks and launched a free service for trademark searches (Busca tu marca), a reduced fee for the renovation of trademarks online, and two WhatsApp numbers for consultations on trademarks and patent matters. Additionally, the office launched two contests to award funds and support to researchers interested in combating the causes and effects of the coronavirus.

Consequently, even amid the pandemic, INDECOPI received 37,250 trademark applications and 833 patent applications during 2020, and the office issued more than 1,200 copyright registrations.

At the judicial level, the virtualisation of the services was a little more advanced as the judiciary had already implemented electronic notifications, virtual filing of documents and “electronic dossiers”. But they also experienced challenges with their systems, and this was an opportunity for improvement.

The judiciary uses virtual tools, such as Google Meet, to hold meetings and hearings, although they continued with in-person diligences and meetings by appointment following the recommended protocols.

Conversely, IP practitioners faced the challenge of adapting to the changes, virtualising their internal proceedings, archives and handling of cases and implementing home office working for everyone.

A personal perspective

In the case of BARLAW, the switch to the online workspace was natural, as we already practised home-working and most of the proceedings were already virtualised.

As the lockdown started, the whole firm started to work from home and the virtualisation of the IP office’s proceedings helped us to keep on top of the cases. We switched our regular weekly meetings to Zoom meetings.

With regard to client work, our biggest innovation was the creation of virtual IP training sessions for authorities (law enforcement) that allowed clients to have a closer and direct communication with them, and to strengthen their relationships with the firm’s associates. These training sessions started one week after the beginning of the lockdown and continue to this day.

Drawing the line

The effect on women IP lawyers has been different depending on whether they had children, the age of the children and if they had any help from their partners or family, but in general, it has been challenging.

I’m not a parent myself, but my colleagues and friends who are agree that the first days were stressful as the burden of housekeeping and childcare was most likely initially to fall upon them.

Organisation and support from their families/partners was key, so they could fairly share the responsibilities among them.

Most of my friends, however, agree that they have loved having this time at home, and some are hoping to regularly work from home in the future.

However, not having to go to the office could sometimes make it difficult to draw a line on when to stop working.

After the threat of the pandemic subsides, working from home will be a usual practice in all offices—but combined with some office working, as there are certain activities that need to be developed in person.

We will see more investment in the modernisation of systems and improvement of online processes, as they have proved to be necessary to keep up with the work without having to gather physically at the office.

Catherine Escobedo is of counsel at BARLAW–Barrera & Asociados, a firm led by women and with a majority of women lawyers. She is a 2021 WIPR diversity champion and can be contacted at  cescobedo@barlaw.com.pe