Mitteilung

MOMSEN, LEONARDOS & CIA.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p> Agente da Propriedade Industrial<o:p></o:p> Licensed Patent and Trademark Agents<o:p></o:p> Desde/Since 1919<o:p></o:p>

ENDERE�O / VISITING ADDRESS<o:p></o:p> Rua Teófilo Otoni 63 / 10º andar<o:p></o:p> 20090-080 - Centro<o:p></o:p> Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Brasil<o:p></o:p> ¶<o:p></o:p> TEL.: (21) 518-2264<o:p></o:p> NEW Fax: (21) 518-3152<o:p></o:p> ¶<o:p></o:p> e-mail: momsen@leonardos.com.br<o:p></o:p> ¶<o:p></o:p> Caixa Postal / P.O. BOX 21214<o:p></o:p> Agência Praça Mauá<o:p></o:p> 20110-970 Rio de Janeiro - RJ <o:p></o:p> Brasil<o:p></o:p>

Mr. Campos Nave<o:p></o:p> Lawyer<o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p>

Tomaz Francisco Leonardos<o:p></o:p> Luiz Leonardos<o:p></o:p> Maurício Leonardos<o:p></o:p> Flávio Leonardos<o:p></o:p> Filipe da Cunha Leonardos<o:p></o:p> Gustavo Leonardos<o:p></o:p> Gabriel Francisco Leonardos<o:p></o:p> Denise Leite de Oliveira Dale<o:p></o:p> Elisabeth Kasznar Fekete (SP)<o:p></o:p>               ¶<o:p></o:p> Ana Lúcia Mamede Carneiro<o:p></o:p> Antonio Carlos Ramos<o:p></o:p> Carla Castello Brigagão<o:p></o:p> Carlos Guarany<o:p></o:p> Eduardo Colonna Rosman<o:p></o:p> Fernanda Burin Leonardos<o:p></o:p> Gustavo José Ferreira Barbosa<o:p></o:p> João Luis d'Orey Facco Vianna<o:p></o:p> Liz Carneiro Leão Starling<o:p></o:p> Louise Prutchi<o:p></o:p> Marcelo Canellas Leite<o:p></o:p> Marcelo de Oliveira Müller<o:p></o:p> Otto Banho Licks<o:p></o:p> Ronaldo Magalhães Varella<o:p></o:p> Rosane Rego Tavares da Silva<o:p></o:p> Sonis Moraes de  Souza<o:p></o:p>             ¶¶<o:p></o:p> Adriana Loureiro José<o:p></o:p> Adriana Xavier de Faria<o:p></o:p> Ana Laura Vianna<o:p></o:p> Ana Lúcia P. Roque<o:p></o:p> Ana Paula Medeiros<o:p></o:p> Ana Paula Pontes da Silva<o:p></o:p> Bárbara Eduardo da Cunha Silva<o:p></o:p> Cinara Romanelli<o:p></o:p> Clarisse Escorel de Moraes<o:p></o:p> Cláudia de Noronha Santos<o:p></o:p> Cláudio Roberto Barbosa (SP)<o:p></o:p> Constanza Woltzenlogel<o:p></o:p> Daniele Maia Teixeira Coelho<o:p></o:p> Dulce Maria Mattos Farias<o:p></o:p> Edson Paula de Souza<o:p></o:p> Eduardo Paranhos<o:p></o:p> Elisa Santucci Oliveira<o:p></o:p> Elisabeth Vinhas<o:p></o:p> Fernanda Stinchi Pascale (SP)<o:p></o:p> Francisco Petersen Barreto<o:p></o:p> Gabriela Muniz Pinto<o:p></o:p> Giuliana Chiara<o:p></o:p> Gustavo Kruel<o:p></o:p> Gustavo Picanço M. M. Vieira<o:p></o:p> Ian Michael Cheffins (SP)<o:p></o:p> Ioná Nascimento<o:p></o:p> Jamile Rodrigues de Oliveira<o:p></o:p> Júlio André A. Gonçalves<o:p></o:p> Lauro Locks<o:p></o:p> Lea Szajnfarber<o:p></o:p> Ludmilla H. Machado<o:p></o:p> Marcelo Mello Bezerra<o:p></o:p> Maria do Carmo G. Ghirardi (SP)<o:p></o:p> Mônica de Cássia P. da Motta<o:p></o:p> Nair Teixeira da Costa<o:p></o:p> Patrícia Schneider<o:p></o:p> Patricia Silva Theophilo<o:p></o:p> Paulo E. Fittipaldi Domingues<o:p></o:p> Pedro Eichin Amaral<o:p></o:p> Perla Abaurre Clark<o:p></o:p> Rodrigo A. de Ouro Preto Santos<o:p></o:p> Sérgio Gouvêa<o:p></o:p> Simone B. de Menezes<o:p></o:p> Suely Mirsky<o:p></o:p> Tatiana A. Silveira de Souza<o:p></o:p> Terezinha Jane dos Santos<o:p></o:p> Thereza G. Curi Abranches<o:p></o:p> Tomaz Henrique Leonardos<o:p></o:p> Vivian Guimarães de Lima e Silva<o:p></o:p>

Rio de Janeiro, <o:p></o:p>

August 24, 2000<o:p></o:p>

<o:p></o:p>

mw@luebeck-gruppe.de  <o:p></o:p>

Re.:  REGISTRATION OF TRADE MARK IN BRAZIL

         O/RE.: PGI (LETTER L)                                         

Dear Sirs,

With reference to your e-mail dated August 23, 2000, below please find the requested information:

         We are pleased to inform you herein below some general features about trademark proceedings in Brazil as well as our pricing policy.

I.       TRADEMARK FILINGS

I.1.    In order to file a trademark or service mark application or apply for the renewal of a registration, in Brazil,  the following documents are necessary:

         A power of attorney, as per the enclosed form, simply signed by an Officer of the Applicant (notarization and legalization are not necessary; please write legibly under the signature the name and title of the person who signs the power). Only one power is enough for several separate applications.

         A sample of the trademark if figurative or composite.

         It is necessary that the Applicant be effectively engaged in the field of activities to which the products/services belong, however, it is not necessary to submit any document in this connection.   It is enough that we are authorized to state, in the application form, that the Applicant does exercise such activities.

I.2.    We may file the application without the power-of-attorney (in order to secure the earliest possible filing date) but, in this case, such document must be presented to the Trademark Office within 60 days, under penalty of the immediate extinction of the application.

I.3.    Please note that in Brazil multiple-class applications are not allowed.   The international trademark classification has been adopted in Brazil as of January 01, 2000, but it is not allowed to apply for a trademark registration claiming the whole text of a class. If you do not know in which international class(es) the application(s) should be filed, please inform us the specific goods or services of interest so that we may properly classify them and inform you the number of applications which would be necessary.

I.4.    We also call your attention that it is always convenient to evaluate whether an availability search should be performed. An availability search will only be made upon your express instructions. The search is not mandatory and in order to perform it we would have to charge you a corresponding fee. Furthermore, the search may be subject to possible faults of the Trademark Officeâ??s data base and also because of the possibility of conflict with trademarks filed in classes not searched. Nevertheless, an availability search is extremely useful in order to identify possible conflicts with trademarks previously filed in the same class of goods or services.

TRADEMARK PROCEEDINGS

I.5.    Approximately 6 months after filing, the application is published in the Brazilian Official Gazette offering a 60-day term for submission of oppositions which may be answered by the Applicant also within a 60 day-term after the notice of the opposition is published. After this term, a thorough registrability examination is made  by the Patent and Trademark Office including as regards prior conflicting trademark applications and/or registrations.

I.6.    Following this examination, a decision is published. If the application is allowed (within approximately 6 months from the first publication date), a 60-day term is automatically opened to pay the final fees for the issuance and maintenance of the corresponding certificate of registration. If the application is rejected, an appeal may be submitted within 60 days, to the President of the Patent and Trademark Office and in case the appeal is accepted in order to reverse the first decision and the application is granted there will also be a 60-day term for payment of the issuance and maintenance fees and an additional 30-day grace period for late payment of such fees.

I.7.    Once these fees are paid, within approximately 6 months the registration is issued and Applicants will be advised of this fact through another publication which is also made in the Brazilian Official Gazette, finally, 6 months later, the certificate of registration is delivered by the Patent and Trademark Office. The whole registration process takes generally 18 months to be completed, considering no opposition or appeal has been filed.

I.8.    Within the period of 180 days, counted as from the date of publication of the issuance of the registration, third parties or even the Patent and Trademark Office itself may start cancellation proceedings to have the issuance decision administratively annulled. Applicants are notified whenever a cancellation request is presented by means of the proper publication in the Brazilian Official Gazette and, as from this publication a 60-day term runs to give to the trademark owner the opportunity to contest the arguments raised in the request for annulment.

I.9.    The decision regarding the request for annulment is also published in the Brazilian Official Gazette and whether sustaining or canceling the registration it closes the administrative sphere.   Thereafter, the case may only be discussed at Courts.   It is to be borne in mind that, in principle, a court action either to invalidate a registration or a decision rejecting the application must start within 5 years of the issuance of the registration or from the final rejection of the application and not from the decision in the administrative cancellation proceedings.

I.10.  Returning to the beginning of this whole procedure, if the examination reveals possible conflicting prior trademark applications, the application will be held in abeyance pending the outcome of the earlier case and a corresponding notice is also published (within approximately 12 months as from the filing date). However, if the examination leads to the identification of a conflict with any prohibition of registration provided for in the law or if a conflicting registration is located, the case should be rejected (within approximately 12 months as of the filing date) whether or not an opposition has been filed and as from the publication of the rejecting decision a 60-day term is opened within which Applicants may present an appeal as previously explained.

I.11.  Even if one has still not obtained a registration, it is important to file the possible opposition against third partiesâ?? later conflicting applications as, if the opponentâ??s own application is granted after the opposition deadline has expired, there is no appeal available but only the administrative annulment proceedings, after the (opposed) registration has already issued.

I.12.  For your reference, we also inform you that there is no use requirement in Brazil for the filing of an application, nor for the issuance of a registration, nor for the renewal of a registration. However, after issuance of the registration a trademark must never stop to be used for a period longer than 5 (five) years or it will be vulnerable to cancellation based on lack of use if a request for cancellation is filed by any interested third party.

I.13.  At this point we call your attention to the fact that no direct notification to Applicants nor to the corresponding Attorneys on file is made by the Patent and Trademark Office.   Official letters simply do not exist in Brazil and therefore, all decisions are detected by inspecting the publication made in the Brazilian Official Gazette, which is published weekly.

II.      OUR FEES  &  OFFICIAL CHARGES

         Firstly, we call your attention to the fact that our firm reserves the right to demand advance payment from any client or associate, specially when the amount of the government charge to be paid is too high or when we notice that our debit notes are being systematically paid only after a substantial delay. As a general rule, our debit notes should always be paid within a maximum of 90 days through our bank account indicated in the note. Our clients and associates should never send checks to us in Brazil as checks may be stolen and we shall not acknowledge payments which we did not receive (please note that banks worldwide pay checks to anyone without even demanding evidence that the person cashing it is the beneficiary of the check).

II.1.   Our fees for carrying out a full availability word mark search are, in US dollars, the following:

<o:p></o:p>	In one class/ for one mark<o:p></o:p>	Each additional class/mark<o:p></o:p>
Search<o:p></o:p>	275.00<o:p></o:p>	210.00<o:p></o:p>

     Searches are generally reported within 5 working days but it is also possible to obtain the results in 2 days on an urgent basis, in which case we shall charge a surplus fee. Please ask for our comprehensive searchesâ?? schedule of fees in case of interest.

II.2.   Our fees for filing one trademark application are, in US dollars (official charges not included) , the following:

<o:p></o:p>		Word Mark<o:p></o:p>	Composite Mark<o:p></o:p>		Device Mark<o:p></o:p>		Tridimen-sional Mark<o:p></o:p>
Filing of application plus the filing of the required documents provided that same reach us in time to be filed together with the application (see below for discounts)<o:p></o:p>		<o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p> 480.00<o:p></o:p>	<o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p> 480.00<o:p></o:p>		<o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p> 480.00<o:p></o:p>		<o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p> 480.00<o:p></o:p>
Two sets of prints<o:p></o:p>		None<o:p></o:p>	80.00<o:p></o:p>		80.00<o:p></o:p>		120.00<o:p></o:p>
Estimated government charges<o:p></o:p>		101.00<o:p></o:p>	101.00<o:p></o:p>		101.00<o:p></o:p>		153.00<o:p></o:p>
Estimated total<o:p></o:p>		581.00<o:p></o:p>	661.00<o:p></o:p>		661.00<o:p></o:p>		753.00<o:p></o:p>
	LATE FILING OF DOCUMENTS (if necessary)<o:p></o:p>			<o:p></o:p>
	First document<o:p></o:p>			100.00<o:p></o:p>
	Each additional simultaneous filing of any document<o:p></o:p>			60.00<o:p></o:p>
	Estimated government charges<o:p></o:p>			20.00<o:p></o:p>

         Quantity Discounts: For 2 (two) up to 4 (four) filing orders we give, for each case, a discount on our fees of 5% (five per cent); 10% (ten per cent) if 5 (five) to 9 (nine) filings; 15% (fifteen per cent) if 10 (ten) to 14 (fourteen) filings; and 20% (twenty per cent) if 15 (fifteen) or more filings.

II.3.   Other fees and official charges due during the prosecution of a trademark application, in US dollars:

<o:p></o:p>	Word, Composite or Device Mark<o:p></o:p>	Tridimensional Mark<o:p></o:p>
Payment of Government fees for the issuance of the Certificate and for keeping the registration in force during ten years including the fees for receiving, docketing, revising and transmitting certificate of registration (discounts of 10% or 5% are available if the payment is made within 30 or 60 days, respectively)<o:p></o:p>	<o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p> 670.00<o:p></o:p>	<o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p> 670.00<o:p></o:p>
Estimated government charges<o:p></o:p>	206.00<o:p></o:p>	273.00<o:p></o:p>
Estimated total<o:p></o:p>	876.00<o:p></o:p>	943.00<o:p></o:p>

     The fees above stated do not comprise the filing of supplementary petitions such as replies to oppositions, appeals etc.. Such petitions are only filed and charged if the necessary prior authorization has been given. In this connection, please note item II.4. herein below.

II.4.   Our minimum fees for presenting and following-up oppositions and similar proceedings in US dollars:

<o:p></o:p>	Our fees<o:p></o:p>	Est. gov. charges<o:p></o:p>	Est. total<o:p></o:p>
Reporting and/or commenting official action, opposition, appeal, rejecting decision, and/or any other publication<o:p></o:p>	<o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p> 100.00<o:p></o:p>	<o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p> none<o:p></o:p>	<o:p></o:p>  <o:p></o:p> 100.00<o:p></o:p>
Filing opposition with supporting arguments<o:p></o:p>	450.00<o:p></o:p>	79.00<o:p></o:p>	529.00<o:p></o:p>
Filing appeal against rejection of an application<o:p></o:p>	550.00<o:p></o:p>	130.00<o:p></o:p>	680.00<o:p></o:p>
Reply to opposition, appeal and/or any other petition<o:p></o:p>	<o:p></o:p> 420.00<o:p></o:p>	<o:p></o:p> 40.00<o:p></o:p>	<o:p></o:p> 460.00<o:p></o:p>
Answer to forfeiture request<o:p></o:p>	500.00<o:p></o:p>	40.00<o:p></o:p>	540.00<o:p></o:p>
Application for forfeiture<o:p></o:p>	320.00<o:p></o:p>	165.00<o:p></o:p>	485.00<o:p></o:p>
Application for administrative annulment, MINIMUM<o:p></o:p>	<o:p></o:p> 620.00<o:p></o:p>	<o:p></o:p> 165.00<o:p></o:p>	<o:p></o:p> 785.00<o:p></o:p>

     The quotations of fees stated above are for cases which require a normal effort and may be increased in case the petition demands a great deal of effort from the attorney acting in the case or reduced in extremely simple cases.

         We are at your disposal for any further information you may need, and remain,

Yours sincerely,                                          MOMSEN, LEONARDOS & CIA.

____________________________            ____________________________

Elizabeth Vinhas                                      Gabriel F. Leonardos

Attachment:    Draft power of attorney

GFL/evof

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