There is much to be done at ABPI in 2020. Apart from the usual activities, the list of challenges for the reelected board for the 2020-2021 biennium, among others, includes the association’s annual Congress in Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná, Brazil (read the article in this edition); an event in partnership with the BPTO at the annual meeting of the International Trademark Association – INTA, in Singapore; new cooperation agreements with foreign associations; the strengthening of the partnership with the World Intellectual Property Organization – WIPO; and the endeavor with the Rio Court of Justice (TJ-RJ) to create chambers specialized in Corporate Law.
The holding of the largest Intellectual Property event in Latin America is a sustainable bet on expanding ABPI’s scope of action to new frontiers in the IP scenario. In the past, the event was held in other Brazilian states, but over time it came to be restricted to an alternation between the cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Today, led by the Organizing Committee, preparations for ABPI’s 40th International Congress on Intellectual Property, in Foz do Iguaçu, which will take place from August 22 to 25, are already advanced. Around 1,000 participants are expected to attend the event.
Around the world
Likewise, the plan is to extend frontiers and present the advances of the Brazilian intellectual property system during the annual meeting of INTA, the largest congress of trademarks on the planet. From April 25 to 29, ABPI and the BPTO, in joint action, shall present to an audience of guests how Brazil is changing in this field, by promoting a strong fight against the patent application’s backlog, accounting for the first results of the country’s accession to the Madrid Protocol, and shorten, through various actions, the exam deadlines, among others. The ongoing measures, according to the BPTO’s president Claudio Furtado will raise the Brazilian institute to the level of the best IP offices worldwide.
More partnerships
The new cooperation agreements with foreign intellectual property associations are part of the program initiated in the previous management by the same board, to promote the exchange of information and mutual participation in the events of partner entities. Agreements are underway with European and Asian associations. ABPI has already entered into partnerships 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.
Specialization
A recurring claim of ABPI is for chambers specialized in IP at the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice, which are necessary for the improvement of decisions. Unlike São Paulo, which has specialized courts in the area of corporate law in the first and second degrees, Rio de Janeiro has specialized courts only in the first degree. In a joint effort with the Industrial Property Committee of OAB-RJ (Brazilian Bar Association of Rio de Janeiro), ABPI will act in favor of said cause before the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice. “Rio de Janeiro, which was the first state to create courts specialized in the subject at first instance, does not have specialization before the Court of Justice”, explains ABPI’s president, Luiz Edgard Montaury Pimenta. “The problem is that, in the event of an appeal, the judges are not experts in the matter, which can affect the quality of decisions”. The president of the OAB-RJ Industrial Property Committee, Felipe Dannemann Lundgren, adds that the decisions of corporate court judges are more consistent and guarantee greater legal security.
