Why can Renato Aragão continue to use the name Didi, even without registering with INPI? | Pop art

Earlier this week, several websites reported that Renato Aragão had lost the right to use the name Didi, his most famous commercial character. This will be related to the registration made by a Chinese company called Beijing Didi Infinity Technology.

In the National Institute of Industrial Property’s database, the trademark “Didi” has never been registered by comedian Renato Aragão’s company, Renato Aragão Produções Artísticas LTDA. In a database search, there are thirty results for Didi, including companies whose trademark registration has already been suspended, none of which are related to the company.

When searching for trademarks registered by Renato Aragão Produções Artísticas, there is also no record of “Didi”. Other brands appear, such as “Os Trapalhões”, now extinct, and “As Aventuras de Didi”.

“This means that Didi was never registered as a trademark. If the trademark expires, it will appear in the database,” explains law professor Gustavo Cloh, of the Getúlio Vargas Foundation in Rio. Registered in the name of Renato Aragão, does not prevent him from using it, it loses exclusivity, meaning another company can use this name.

Kloh explains that when a company registers a trademark, it needs to identify the category of products that will use the trademark, whether it is clothing, in the food sector, stationery products, hygiene products, and children’s toys, for example.

“The company then has five years to launch a product with that name in the specific sector. If it doesn’t launch it or doesn’t pay the maintenance fees, it asks for trademark exclusivity.”

According to the professor, the company also cannot prevent the comedian from using the name “Diddy” for products he previously used. “If you register a trademark and there is a previous user with the same name in the same class, they can continue to use it, even if the first user doesn’t have the registration,” he says. “The company can register it for themselves and prevent people from using it after registering it.”

Didi, Renato Aragão’s most famous character, is not considered a trademark and falls under the scope of copyright.

“We can discuss who owns it, because it is a copyright, but it is not a trademark. Is the character his own? Can he do plays, films and programs like Diddy? Another thing is Diddy’s product.”

“Copyright protection does not depend on the registration if the character is its own,” he says. In this case, there is no database, Kluh explains. “Whoever created the character, from a copyright point of view, would have the right to the character, but it is not registered anywhere.”

Remember Renato Aragão’s interview with Fantastico: