2019 was a busy year, but the results are already showing and indicate that the efforts have been rewarded. We planted and harvested. ABPI reinforced its institutional actions, increased its presence in the media and created new communication channels for its members and the IP community. On another front, the association strengthened its partnership with the BPTO, with criticisms, suggestions and joint actions, always in the name of improving the Intellectual Property system and the business environment.
Old banners of the Association, such as the fight against patent backlog, were contemplated by the new management, which took over the BPTO in February this year. Other ABPI claims, no less important, such as the financial autonomy of the institute, are beginning to be discussed within the Ministry of Economy. Everything indicates that soon there will be news in this field. Besides, for 2020, more work, enthusiasm, and dedication.
ABPI activities in 2019
INSTITUTIONAL
Institutional actions with entities and authorities highlighted ABPI’s participation in the main forums related to Intellectual Property.
. Meeting, at the beginning of the year, with the Special Secretary for Productivity, Employment and Competitiveness, (SEPEC), Carlos Alexandre da Costa.
. In April Judge Reis Friede, took office as the new president of TRF2 (Federal Regional Court of the 2nd Region).
. Public Consultations: from the Ministry of Citizenship, to prepare a draft and reformulate the Brazilian Copyright Law (LDA); and from the BPTO, for trademark registrations under the Madrid Protocol.
. Public Hearings: of the Agriculture and Agrarian Reform Commission (CRA), in the Federal Senate, on the impacts of industrial policy on agribusiness; and the regulation of packaging in tobacco products.
. Amicus curiae in the order signed on September 11th by Judge Márcia Nunes de Barros, from the 13th Federal Court of Rio de Janeiro, dismissing the petition for writ of mandamus with a preliminary injunction against the plan to fight against the patent backlog.
. Official letter sent in July to the Special Secretary for Productivity, Employment, and Competitiveness of the Ministry of Economy, Carlos Alexandre da Costa, praising the recent creation of the Interministerial Group on Intellectual Property (GIPI) and offering collaboration.
. A document sent to the President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro, containing ten proposals for improving innovation and the business environment in Brazil.
. Support for the Project for the Elimination of Patent Backlog, in a letter sent to the BPTO, and participation at the launch of the program at the Ministry of Economy, in Brasília, on July 3rd.
. Reception to the delegation of 12 Korean executives from the area of intellectual property, led by Tae Keun Rhee, from the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
. Attendance of the ceremony of the agreement between the BPTO and EMBRAPII (Brazilian Company for Industrial Research and Innovation), with the participation of the Special Secretary for Productivity, Employment, and Competitiveness (SEPEC), Carlos da Costa.
. Visit to INTA headquarters in New York (USA), in December.
. Reception to the Japanese delegation and representatives of the Consulate General of Japan in Rio de Janeiro.
. The Fight Against Piracy Front elected two ABPI proposals among the priority projects for legislative monitoring, defined at the 1st General Assembly of the Joint Parliamentary Front in Defense of Intellectual Property and Fight Against Piracy, in March: PDC 860/2017 (ABPI/ABAPI), which approves, under the Madrid Agreement, the texts referring to the Common Regulation of the International Trademark Registry; and PLS 173/2017 (ABPI), which changes the Industrial Property Law to reduce expected deadlines in patent application processes.
. Meeting with federal deputy Marcos Pereira, vice president of the Joint Parliamentary Front in Defense of Intellectual Property and Fight Against Piracy, author of PLP 143/2019, which determines that the resources destined to the BPTO will not be subject to a limitation of expenditure; and PL 2334/2019, which allows the institute to sign agreements or partnerships.
. Economic Study Intellectual Property, Innovation and Development: Challenges for Brazil, commissioned by ABPI to economist Antonio Márcio Buainain from Unicamp (University of Campinas) was published as a book and released to government authorities and other opinion-makers.
. in December the Corporate Committee held a lecture at Casa do Saber, in Rio de Janeiro, on “Predictability and Legal Security of Intellectual Property in Brazil”, with L’Oréal’s director Patrick Sabatier, FinHealth’s president João Paulo Poiares Baptista, and Judge Márcia Nunes, from the 13th Federal Court of Rio de Janeiro.
. An official letter with a technical note in opposition to plain packaging for tobacco products sent to Senator Leila Barros (PSB / DF), rapporteur for PLS 769/2015, pending at the Constitution, Justice and Citizenship Commission of the Federal Senate (CCJ).
. Homage to former BPTO president Luiz Otávio Pimentel, in a ceremony at the Association’s headquarters.
. Partnerships for cooperation in promoting events with AMPPI – the Mexican Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property, AAAPI – the Argentinean Association of Industrial Property Agents, and ACHIPI – the Chilean Intellectual Property Association
. ABPI’s Dispute Resolution Domain Name Chamber (CASD-ND) accounted for a total of 257 disputes and is the main chamber used by parties to resolve conflicts under the scope of the Administrative System of Internet Domain Name Conflicts under “.br” (SACI-Adm).
COMMUNICATION
Throughout the year, ABPI increased its exposure in the media, with a prominent presence in spontaneous media and social networks, renewed its website and launched a new logo.
. Launch of a new logo in Congress in August.
. A renewed website with new design, more accessibility, and content
. Podcast launched in November, with interviews and debates about IP with BPTO’s president Claudio Furtado, Maria Eugenia Gallotti, Caroline Tauk, and Renata Lisboa.
. Video recorded interviews with ABPI founders for ABPI’s library collection.
. Valor Econômico Newspaper article: Will it be the end of the patent soap opera in Brazil?
. Monthly newsletter with online content with news about ABPI and the IP sector.
. In the spontaneous media, ABPI was mentioned in 81 news, in 39 media outlets, on topics related to Patents, Piracy, and Copyright, among others.
. From April to December 388 posts were published on social networks, receiving more than 14 thousand clicks and 13 thousand likes, with 2,239 new followers on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
OWN EVENTS
In addition to its traditional annual Congress with a record audience, ABPI promoted seminars, roundtables, courses, lunches, and breakfasts, with lectures and debates on IP.
. ABPI’s XXXIX International Congress on Intellectual Property had a record audience and more than a hundred foreigners, including a delegation of ten members from the Chinese Trademark Office. Preparations for the next congress in Foz do Iguaçu are advanced.
. Breakfast, followed by a lecture, with BPTO’s president Claudio Furtado, on “Advances and Prospects in the Processing of Patent Applications”, in July, in Rio de Janeiro.
. Breakfast on “National Data Protection Authority – Challenges and Goals”, in November, at the Mercury São Paulo Moema Time Square Hotel.
. Breakfast “Advances and Prospects in the Processing of Patent Applications”, with the participation of Liane Lage, Director of Patents at the BPTO, in December, at Casa do Saber, in Rio de Janeiro.
. Seminar “20 Years of UDRP – Extrajudicial Domain Name Dispute Resolution”, organized by CSD-ABPI – Intellectual Property Alternative Dispute Resolution Center, and the CBAr’s Intellectual Property, Arbitration and Mediation Study Group (Brazilian Arbitration Committee), at the Ayrton Senna Institute, in São Paulo.
. Roundtable “Madrid Protocol, First Impressions and New Directions”, with the participation of Maria Eugenia Gallotti, Intellectual Property Technologist in the Trademark Board and manager of the Madrid Protocol Project at the BPTO, in October, in São Paulo.
. Roundtable on “Landlord Liability”, held by ABPI and the INTA Anticounterfeiting Committee Latin America in October, at ABPI’s office in São Paulo.
. WIPO-Brasil Intellectual Property Summer Course, in partnership with WIPO and the BPTO, held this year in two editions, one in Rio de Janeiro in March, and the other in Florianópolis in July, and renewed for another two years in a ceremony at the headquarters of WIPO in Rio de Janeiro, in December.
. Cocktail at the headquarters of the Brazilian Association of Industrial Property Agents – ABAPI, in Rio de Janeiro, and co-organizer in the celebration of World IP Day at the event promoted by UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) Technology Park on April 18th.
. Year-end lunch and inauguration of the new board at the Rio de Janeiro Yacht Club, in December.
THIRD-PARTY EVENTS
ABPI attended and supported third-party events related to Intellectual Property.
. Brazilian delegation at the AIPPI World Congress, in London.
. “Importance of Intellectual Property for Startups”, organized by the Intellectual Property, Innovation, and Management, and Corporate Law Committees of OAB-PR (Brazilian Bar Association of Paraná).
. “Let’s talk about Art, Fashion and Design?”, organized by the Cultural Affairs and Intellectual Property Committees of OAB-PR (Brazilian Bar Association of Paraná).
. “New Perspectives on Intellectual Property”, seminar promoted by OAB-SP (Brazilian Bar Association of São Paulo), in São Paulo.
. ASPI XX Congress on Intellectual Property, with the theme “Evolution of Intellectual Property in the Technological Revolution”.
. Innovation Summit Brasil, in August, in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina.
. 11th China Trademark Festival, held by the China Trademark Association (CTA), in Yinchuan (China).
. “The International Patent System: PCT, ePCT”, from the Itinerant Workshops Project.
. 2nd Patented Inventions Contest in the Prosul Region, held by PROSUR ─ System of Cooperation on Aspects of Operational Information and Industrial Property.
. “Intellectual Property and Sport”, an event held by OAB-PR (Brazilian Bar Association of Paraná) Intellectual Property and Sports Law Committees.
. XIV ABAPISUL Regional Meeting, an event held in Florianópolis, in March.
