The ongoing program for the BPTO’s recasting, aiming to end the backlog, among other measures, has raised great expectations among users of the system. The president of the institute, economist Claudio Furtado, did no not go into details, but has been firm in relation to what is yet to come. Recently, at an event commemorating Intellectual Property Day, he stated: “The BPTO of the backlog is a page turned in Brazilian history”.
It is not known accurately the mechanism with which Furtado, who took office in January this year, will use to reduce, extinguish or eliminate the backlog, especially in relation to patents, which is currently of about 218,000 applications pending review by the BPTO. Furthermore, the BPTO president said that there will be no hiring of more examiners. Even so, Furtado said that three major projects shall be disclosed, including the “Fight Against Backlog”, all led by the Special Secretariat for Productivity, Employment and Competitiveness, of the Ministry of Economy.
It is possible that the other two projects not mentioned by the BPTO’s president refer to measures of improvement in the productivity of the institute, which associated with improvement of the backlog would result in the effective reduction of patent examination periods. Makes sense. Nowadays, in Brazil, the delay for the granting of a patent takes an average of 11 years, while in countries like Spain and the United States this period is around 2 years. “The entire IP community is eager to see BPTO’s reform plan put into practice, which if successful shall result in the resumption of patent applications in Brazil, which have fallen by 10% in the last two years”, says ABPI’s director Valdir de Oliveira Filho.
ABPI has defended the BPTO’s financial autonomy as a solution for the backlog and the delay of the examinations. According to the institute’s board of directors, about R$ 400 million are being held back – money that could be used to improve the structure of the institute.
By the way, Bill 3406/15 which aims to reduce bureaucracy and speed up patent applications and trademark registration in Brazil is pending in the National Congress. The Bill links the application of bpto’s revenues generated by patent examinations and trademark registrations, allowing them to be invested for specific purposes and preventing the institute’s budget from being blocked by the government.
On August 26, at ABPI’s International Congress in Rio de Janeiro, “Plenary 1 – The bpto today and tomorrow: governance plan for the next 4 years” will discuss issues related to the theme. Click here to view the Congress’ complete program.
