SAPI brings trade mark advice to businesses in Caracas

Venezuela’s Autonomous Intellectual Property Service (SAPI) has launched a pilot outreach scheme in Caracas covering shopping centres, business districts and franchises. Called ‘SAPI Takes to the Streets’, the initiative aims to bring guidance on trade marks, patents and copyright directly to businesses. Its first session assisted 44 premises managers, entrepreneurs and visitors at the Metrocenter shopping centre.

A first session at Metrocenter

According to an official statement published on 16 October 2026, the programme began at Metrocenter in the capital’s city centre. Agency staff and specialists in trade marks, patents and copyright took part in a joint information and advice session.

The figure of 44 people assisted relates to the launch of the initiative. It refers to premises managers, entrepreneurs and visitors, not to the number of trade marks registered or franchises added to the system. This distinction helps put the announcement in perspective: the reported outcome concerns assistance and guidance.

SAPI presented the activity as part of its support for small and medium-sized enterprises and efforts to strengthen the national economy. The agency reports to the Ministry of People’s Power for National Trade and places this initiative within its strategy to promote trade mark protection.

Reaching out to the franchise community

The franchise community is explicitly named among the initiative’s intended audiences, alongside shopping centres and business districts in Caracas. The significance of the news lies in this face-to-face outreach: advisers are going directly to those who manage premises and may need intellectual property guidance.

The sessions are not limited to trade marks. The team also includes specialists in patents and copyright, the other two areas mentioned by the agency. This indicates the scope of the guidance available, without implying that every business assisted needs to complete procedures in all three areas.

For franchise operators, the announcement offers a specific opportunity to seek advice on identifying and protecting the intellectual property assets associated with their business. However, the initiative described is a pilot information and advisory scheme; it should not be interpreted as an automatic grant of rights or permission to use a trade mark.

A standard form for organising business information

One element of the programme involves profiling companies and businesses using a standard form, known as the Formato Único. According to SAPI, this tool helps organise the information needed to begin and complete trade mark registration procedures and, in some cases, renew registrations.

The agency links this tool to the simplification of administrative procedures. The emphasis is therefore on organising information and making the process more accessible to users, as well as explaining the protections offered by Venezuela’s intellectual property system.

It is important to distinguish this support from the outcome of each application. Advising a premises manager and collecting their information are separate steps from completing or renewing a registration. The announcement describes a source of support for progressing these procedures, not a collective registration of the businesses visited.

How premises managers can benefit

For a premises manager, the immediate value of a session of this kind is the chance to discuss their specific circumstances with specialists. Before seeking guidance, it is useful to establish whether the enquiry concerns starting a procedure, completing it or a possible renewal: these are the stages SAPI itself mentions when explaining the programme.

It is also advisable to distinguish information about the business from information about the trade mark concerned. In a franchise, this preparation helps operators ask precise questions without confusing the running of the premises with ownership of the rights.

In practice: use the advice to clarify the status of each procedure and the next step, without assuming that a visit to the premises amounts to an approved registration.