On June 13, 1994, the Governments of Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela signed a Free Trade Agreement, known as the Group of Three or G-3 Treaty, which will enter into effect on January 1, 1995. The primary goal of the Treaty is to eliminate tariffs over a period of 10 years (12 years in the case of automobiles), except with respect to certain agricultural products, with a view to creating a Free Trade area similar to that envisioned under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Chapter XVIII of the Treaty addresses intellectual property issues and is structured similarly to the intellectual property provisions of NAFTA. In order to eliminate barriers to trade, the Treaty provides that national treatment is to be afforded to goods originating from another member country. In addition, the Treaty addresses the enforcement of intellectual property rights, including provisional measures such as the seizure of infringing goods.

Among the more significant provisions are requirements that member states provide protection for new plant varieties, trade secrets and computer software. The last must be protected by copyright as a literary work. The provisions of the Treaty further provide that protection must be granted to phonograms, similar to that required by the Rome Convention.

The most significant features of the Treaty with respect to trademarks include a provision, similar to that contained in Decision 344 of the Andean Pact (reported in our Information Letter N.S. 182), that, where similar trademarks for the same products or services are owned by different parties in different member states, products emanating from one party may not enter the territory where the other party has registered its mark, unless the parties have reached an agreement concerning use of the marks so as to avoid confusion among consumers. The Treaty also specifically protects well-known marks, in accordance with the Paris Convention, even though Colombia is not yet a member of the Paris Convention.