On March 2018, the UKIPO and Oxentia (Oxford University’s Global Innovation Consultancy) launched a version of the Lambert Toolkit in Brazil. This is an initiative to foster cooperation agreements envisaging both development and transfer of technology between private entities and universities that includes templates of draft agreements for technology transfer and R&D projects to be settled between UK and Brazilian entities.
The initiative also reduces time, spends and efforts normally engaged into said transactions through best-practices models. The Brazilian version is intended to support both UK and Brazilian businesses, helping academia and industry to carry out research projects together, encouraging joint projects and cross border technology transfer between the countries.
Another major development that will support both countries’ businesses looking to trade in each other’s markets is the recently signed (March 28, 2018) PPH (Patent Prosecution Highway) agreement between the
Brazilian PTO and the UKIPO. Under the PPH program, the time-frame of apply to outcome of a patent will be reduced from the current average of 10 years to 9 months. An applicant whose claims are accepted by one office will be able to request faster processing of a co-pending application. This is a major improvement on the process of securing a patent with the benefit of minimization of the associated prosecution costs and timeframe. The cooperation between Brazil and UK is evident and will allow the significant economy of time and money to benefit trade actions and foster cross-border transactions.