In an open letter released on August 25th, the ABPI, along with other entities, took a stand against the presidential sanction of PL 12/2021, in the form of the substitute text approved by the Federal Senate on 11/08/2021. PL 12 amends the current legislation on patents (Law 9,279/96) and modifies the provisions related to the possibility of granting a compulsory license of office in cases of national or international emergency, or in cases of public interest, declared in an act of the Power Federal Executive.
“The granting of compulsory licenses in exceptional situations”, says the document, “is already permitted by current legislation and finds, in the form adopted by the country, constitutional support and international treaties to which Brazil is a signatory. It is not necessary to change the law for patents to be broken”.
The document follows: “There is no investigative process in the country to assess shortages due to patent holders’ fault or abusive use, which could give rise to any compulsory license”, also emphasizing that “there is no international consensus regarding the need to break patents to fight the Covid-19 pandemic or even more flexible protection of inventions developed to fight the pandemic”. The document warns, in relation to the Law amendment, about the potential impacts involving innovative sectors that use intellectual property. And he continues: “there is no news that a compulsory license was granted to fight the current pandemic in any country in the world. Despite this, vaccination is advancing on all continents, including Brazil”.
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