In a novel ruling, both for the unusual nature of the case and for the approach given to the situation, the Court of Auditors of Asunción, second chamber, confirmed the rejection of the registration of a trademark called “Miss Cola Paraguay” on the grounds that it would violate the dignity of women, objectifying them. The Court based its decision on the National Constitution, Law No. 5777/2016 “On Integral Protection of Women against all forms of violence”, Decree No. 6973/2017, regulating said law, and Law No. 1294/1998 “On Trademarks”, as well as on international treaties subscribed by Paraguay, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women -ratified in 1986- and the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women (Belém do Pará) -ratified in 1995-.

The case reached the Court of Auditors following the administrative contentious lawsuit filed by the applicant against the resolution issued by the Director General of Industrial Property, which rejected ex officio the grant of the trademark, which reached that stage without having had any opposition or objections in the substantive examination. The Director based the rejection on the grounds that “...the scandalous and obscene nature of the requested denomination cannot be denied...”, by virtue of which the requirements of article 2, paragraph a) of the Trademark Law are met, specifically in the sense that the requested trademark is contrary to the law, morals and good customs...”.. It also took into account the protection established by the National Constitution for the rights of children, illiterate young people, consumers and women with respect to advertising and its effects.

The court considered the resolution of the National Directorate of Intellectual Property (DINAPI) to be in accordance with the law and issued within the principle of legality that must govern all administrative acts. Regarding the merits of the matter, it agreed that “...the Trademark Law and the National Constitution applied, are clear and precise and do not leave aside any norm or right, since the decision refers to morality and good customs, contrary to the mentioned registration of the trademark ‘Miss Cola Paraguay’, which is notoriously a violence to the dignity of women and enters into the objectification of women”. Likewise, the judges held that the rejection does not create any type of injury, since the law strongly protects society and the consumer public when it comes to this type of registrations.

Delving into the forms of violence perpetrated against women, the court cited subsection k) of Article 6 of Law No. 5777, which conceptualizes media violence as “the action exercised by the mass media, through publications or other forms of dissemination or reproduction of messages, contents and stereotyped images that promote the objectification, submission or exploitation of women”. They also mentioned subsection m) of the aforementioned norm, which defines symbolic violence as “the use or dissemination of messages, symbols, icons or signs that transmit, reproduce and consolidate relations of domination, exclusion, inequality and discrimination, naturalizing the subordination of women”; and subsection ñ), which states that violence against dignity is any “verbal or written expression of offense or insult that discredits, disqualifies, devalues, degrades or affects the dignity of women, as well as public messages from authorities, officials or individuals that justify or promote violence against women or their discrimination in any sphere”.

Likewise, the Court held that “the application for registration of the trademark ‘Miss Cola Paraguay’ may be considered as one of the ‘socio-cultural patterns that promote and sustain gender inequality by devaluing the tasks performed mainly by women, using images that justify roles for women, are discriminatory or reify them or present them as objects’”, in accordance with article 3, paragraph d), in fine, of Decree No. 6973.

Similarly, the court took into account the experiences in the region, specifically in Argentina, in the decisions taken by companies that promoted for many years the Miss Cola Reef contest, which was later cancelled due to the awareness of gender violence.