In an open letter recently sent to the Ministry of Economy, ABPI – the Brazilian Intellectual Property Association, along with other entities, expresses “concern about the possible weakness in the functioning of the Brazilian industrial property system, in light of the delicate structural situation in that the institute, which is responsible for granting industrial property rights in Brazil (BPTO) is found” and asks for measures in this regard.
The document highlights the vote of Minister Dias Toffoli, of the Federal Supreme Court, in the recent judgment of ADI 5529 “when he explicitly called for such a need to structure the BPTO” and references the rule in article 239 of the Brazilian Industrial Property Law, which authorizes the Executive Power “to promote the necessary changes in the BPTO to ensure the financial and administrative autonomy of the body”.
In the communiqué, there is recognition of the BPTO’s efforts to address “the historic patent backlog problem”, with the caveat that the system “still presents an excessive delay concerning the time of examination and granting by equivalent bodies in the vast majority of countries – there is an urgent need for investment to structure the institute, which, it should be noted, has a surplus”.
