Legalsa

ntellectual Property, Corporate, Privacy, E-Commerce, Startups

Partner

Karina Calderón is a partner of  Legalsa, where she heads the Intellectual Property practice. In the course of her extensive career as an IP specialist, Karina has advised major Guatemalan holdings, including Grupo Industrias Licoreras de Guatemala and Holding de Cervecería Centroamericana, S.A., on management of their IP portfolios; she was designated by  WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) as the Guatemalan Expert charged with developing the country’s National IP Strategy; she achieved the first EU registration of a Latin American designation of origin, for Guatemalan rum; she negotiated, on behalf of Licoreras de Guatemala, their sale of the Zacapa  trademark to Diageo; she has participated in several important due diligence processes for acquisitions and other major international transactions with significant IP components.

Karina is very experienced in prosecution, maintenance, enforcement, protection and transfer of IP rights, including trademarks, patents, copyrights, designs, utility models and domain names, as well as e-commerce and unfair competition, including related litigation and transactions. She is the founder and Chair of CAMPI, the Guatemalan Chamber of Intellectual Property, and a former Vice Chair for Central America and the Caribbean of ORIGIN (Organization for Geographic Indications). She is very active in leadership committees of INTA (International -Trademark Association). 

Karina participated as a legal review coordinator for the DR-CAFTA trade agreement between the USA, Central America and the Dominican Republic, and as a negotiator on IP matters and safeguard clauses for Guatemala’s free trade agreements with Mexico, Chile, Panama and the Dominican Republic.

Karina has been a professor of Intellectual Property and Jurisprudence for undergraduate and graduate programs of Universidad Rafael Landívar and Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala.

Spanish, English, French.

Guatemalan Bar Association Guatemalan Chamber of Intellectual Property: founding member and Chair Guatemalan Institute of Commercial Law: Board member Guatemalan Institute of Competition Law International Trademark Association (INTA): Brand & Innovation Resources Committee; Geographical Indications Committee; Famous and Well-Known Marks Committee Inter-American Association of Industrial Property (ASIPI): Secretary of Legislation Committee Pharmaceuticals Trademarks Group (PTMG) International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP)

JD, Universidad Rafael Landívar. Political Science course, Universidad de Salamanca (Spain) LLM in Intellectual and Industrial Property and Information Technologies, Universidad de Alicante (Spain) LLM in Economic Commercial Law and Banking and Capital Market Operations, (thesis pending), Universidad Rafael Landívar Postgraduate certification in Commercial and Corporate Law, Universidad de Salamanca (Spain)