On April 26, World Intellectual Property Day was celebrated and ABPI joined several events to commemorate the date. Since 2000, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) defines a theme to celebrate the special day, and in 2019 the choice was “Innovation in the World of Sport”.
On the 26th, WIPO held a roundtable in Rio de Janeiro addressing “The importance of an IP strategy for sports development”, which was hosted by ABPI’s president, Luiz Edgard Montaury Pimenta, and had the participation of the associate vice president for Latin America of NBA, Sérgio Perrello Filho, the surfer and entrepreneur Rico de Souza and attorney Paulo Parente, member of ABPI’s Board of Directors.
In a relaxed chat, Rico de Souza told stories of surfing and surfers, and how he developed and protected his brand, now sponsored by big companies. Laura Hammel, Intellectual Property Attaché for Mercosur, Guianas, and Suriname of the US Department of Commerce (USPTO), showed the accelerated development of the sports market, which grows at rates of 7% a year. Parente, in turn, highlighted the significance of protecting brands, patents, industrial designs, as a way of valuing these assets. Montaury Pimenta recalled that in the 1990s many foreign surf brands were pirated, since, at the time, the BPTO did not implement international treaties, of which Brazil was a signatory, and that inhibited this type of practice.
On the 24th, ABPI held a cocktail party in Rio de Janeiro, together with ABAPI and ASPI for all the members of the entities. The meeting took place at the headquarters of the Brazilian Association of Industrial Property Agents (ABAPI) and featured a panel discussion on “Innovation in the World of Sport”. ASPI also organized a cocktail party in São Paulo. The ASPI president, Marcello do Nascimento, joined the discussion via videoconference.
On the same day, OAB/PR (Bar Association of the State of Paraná) held an event in Curitiba, which had the support of the BPTO and ABPI, which was represented by Marcelo Mazzola, ABPI’s Deputy Editor and Maria Inez Araújo de Abreu, representative of the Paraná Sectional of ABPI, who is also vice-president of the IP Commission of the OAB/PR. The meeting also had lectures by Vinicius Grein, Director of Innovation and Marketing of Athletico Paranaense, Lucas Pedrozo, Manager of Soccer Contracts of Coritiba F.C., and Nícolas Guimarães, researcher in Industrial Property of the BPTO. The event was included in the activities program of the IP World Day in the States organized by the BPTO, as well as by WIPO.
On April 18, the Technological Park of UFRJ promoted in Rio de Janeiro, an event that had the participation of ABPI’s director, Filipe Fonteles Cabral, and several experts who presented technologies for monitoring high performance athletes, as well as promoting debates on how innovation and intellectual property rights support and stimulate sport around the world. A discussion on the case of Eagle startup brought together representatives of the Reaction Institute, the Brazilian Intellectual Property Association (ABPI), UFRJ, as well as Olympic and Paralympic medalists. The activity was part of the series “Encounters in the Park” with the support of ABPI, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the BPTO.
