Júlio César Moreira, the president-in-office of the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BPTO), presented the agency’s strategic plan for the next four years at a breakfast event hosted by ABPI on August 18th. At the meeting, he announced actions for the areas of communication, governance, logistics, technology, and infrastructure that, according to him, will allow the BPTO to decide patent examination requests in two years (without contestation) by 2026. With this, the Brazilian Institute would be raised to the same level as the major international patent offices. “Yes, we can do this and will,” said Moreira.
The presentation, moderated by ABPI President Gabriel Leonardos, also featured the presence of the substitute director of DIRPA (Patent Directorate), Alexandre Dantas Rodrigues, and the substitute director of Trademarks, Schmuell Lopes Cantanhede. In his presentation, Moreira reaffirmed the need for the BPTO’s management autonomy to hire examiners, purchase equipment, invest in technology and take other measures. To address these investments, he informed that the BPTO is requesting an increase in the agency’s budget from the current R$52 million to R$72 million this year from the Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce, and Services (MDIC). “We want management autonomy, the possibility of programming for each year’s spending,” he stated.
Moreira also announced the Institute’s intention to practice pricing policy for the services provided, as the last adjustment occurred in 2014. Regarding this point, Leonardos emphasized that ABPI has always advocated for the agency’s financial autonomy and that this is the inspiration for the Structuring Public Civil Action filed by the entity with the 31st Federal Court of Rio de Janeiro, which aims to ensure resources for the BPTO’s proper functioning. “ABPI does not oppose the policy of differentiated prices, but it only makes sense if this money can be invested by the BPTO in its activities. This should be addressed jointly,” said the President of ABPI.
Despite the BPTO having eliminated the patent backlog, now stabilized at acceptable levels, Moreira informed that the Institute is concerned about the formation of a backlog in the trademark area, aggravated by the growth of 114% in applications in the last four years and, at the same time, by the decrease in the number of examiners. To mitigate the problem, BPTO’s Strategic Plan provides for the entry of 60 new trademark examiners every semester until 2026.
For members who could not watch the live presentation, the video is available on the events page of the ABPI website in the exclusive access area — https://abpi.org.br/eventos-2023/. Log in with your username and password to watch.
