Over the last years, Brazil has been investing in new initiatives to become more modern and competitive. The steps taken include ratifying important international treaties, defining new strategies, regulations, and legislation, conducting public consultation processes, and implementing critical changes to its institutions, the courts and law enforcement.
In terms of IP, recent initiatives also show that Brazil’s Patent and Trademark office (BPTO) has been taking key steps to align itself with other offices around the globe. For example, in WTR’s annual IP Office Innovation Ranking, which ranks national offices by their use of modern tools and systems, the agency rose sixth place alongside the IP institutions of Australia and Chile. Further, after years of stalling and debate, the BPTO finally implemented the Madrid Protocol in 2019, which overall has been going well from a Brazilian perspective, and more recently, the Hague Treaty for Registration of Industrial designs.
Meanwhile, the office stepped up its efforts to decrease its application backlog for both trademark and patent applications.
The change of Brazil’s government last year saw the country re-elect former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who governed Brazil from 2003 to 2010, but later became involved in a corruption scandal that led to him being jailed for over a year until the decision was overturned by the Brazilian Supreme Court. The change in government led to some concern by commentators on whether the BPTO and intellectual property would be at the top of the agenda for the incoming government.
However, recent signals coming from the Brazilian government can be seen with cautious optimism about the importance given to Intellectual Property and innovation in the country.
On 14 June, government sources close to Vice President Geraldo Alckmin (who is also the current Minister of Development, Industry, Trade and Services) announced that the government will take action to reduce the delay in registration of trademarks and patents before 2026 and reaffirmed Brazil’s commitment to the National Intellectual Property Strategy (ENPI) (“Estratégia Nacional de Propriedade Intellectual – ENPI”), which was rolled out in 2020, and aims to create a balanced and effective National IP system, to promote creativity, investments in innovation and access to knowledge in Brazil.
Alckmin’s Executive secretary at the Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services), Marcio Elias Rosa, noted during a recent seminar that:
“We [the government] are committed to reducing the backlog for trademark and patent registration. We will end, at the end of four years of government, with a much shorter time than the current one, which is five to six years for registration. It’s been ten years and we’re going to end up with a lot less than that. This is the commitment of Minister Geraldo Alckmin.”
During his comments, Rosa also defended efforts to increase legal certainty in Brazil as a guarantee for investments in research and innovation in the country.
The above signals by the current Brazilian administration can be seen as positive for IP and innovation in the country. While there is significant work ahead, it seems that Brazil is continuing to move in the right direction.
Our experts at Daniel law will continue to monitor all developments and are at your disposal to answer any of your questions. Do not hesitate to get in touch with us.