News

In view of the slow pace of the Brazilian Trademark and Patent Office (BPTO) and the National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA) on the analysis of trademark and patent applications, over the last few years there has been a significant increase in the number of judicial cases seeking the acceleration of the examination of such applications.

In fact, several court decisions have ruled that if the application is pending for a long time before the BPTO or ANVISA, it is possible to file a writ of mandamus to redress an unreasonable delay.

Following the consensus among the international community about the importance of the development of green technologies in mitigating global climate change, national governments also came to acknowledge the relevance of patent granting procedures as a mechanism to promote green innovation.

Within this context, the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office – INPI – will launch, as of this date of April 17, 2012, a pilot program involving “green patents”, for the purpose of prioritizing examination of patent applications related to environmentally friendly technologies, by reducing the time it will take for their examination to less than two years. The pilot program is quite limited as yet and only the first 5

Brazil chapter.

Regulatory Overview.

To explore further the subject of trade secrets and proprietary information, and specifically the issues raised around this subject in Brazil, Lawyer Monthly speaks to Elisabeth Kasznar Fekete, attorney at law, Partner at Momsen, Leonardos e Cia and head of the firm's São Paulo office. The firm assembles a highly specialized and qualified but also diversified team working in all Intellectual Property related matters – prosecution, enforcement and licensing IP rights. Cutting-edge legal knowledge with specialized technical expertise in the areas to which it is applied – civil engineering, mechanics, electronics, metallurgy, chemistry, medicine, biology, etc.

Legal framework

The growth of the Brazilian market and economy is parallelled by the increase of counterfeiting activities. The enforcement of IP rights involves planning, technology, intelligence, training and coordination, with support from a number of laws and treaties, as well as the relevant rules of the Federal Constitution, the Civil Code, the Criminal Code, the Civil Procedure Code, the Criminal Procedure Code and administrative statutory instruments. The legal framework for anticounterfeiting includes:

• the Industrial Property Law (Law 9,279/96);

• the Copyright Law (Law 9,610/98); and

• the Software Law (Law 9,609/98).

In addition, Brazil is a signatory to the main international IP instruments, such as:

• the Paris Convention for the Protection

of Industrial Property (as reviewed in Stockholm in 1967);

• the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs);

• the Berne Convention f

Bedeutung und Vielschichtigkeit der brasilianischen gesetzlichen Vorschriften uber Arbeitnehmererfindungen werden in den einschlägigen Veröffentlichungen stets hervorgehoben. Der besondere Rang dieses Rechtsgebiets ist angesichts der gegenwärtigen industriellen Konjunktur, in der sie Meisen der wesentlichen Erfindungen aufgrund systematischer Forschungen in Industrie und Wissenschaft gemacht werden, nicht zu bestreinte.