BPTO grants Geographical Indication for Cheese and Cocoa Almonds

The BPTO granted on April 24, the registration of Geographical Indication (GI), for the product “Cheese” of the Witmarsum Colony. The region corresponds to the delimitation of the former Cancela Farm, in the district of Palmeira, Parana. Currently, the 20 tons of cheese produced per month supply markets throughout Parana and in several Brazilian states. GI was granted on behalf of the Cooperativa Mista Agropecuaria Witmarsum Ltd.

In the BPTO’s official Gazzete No. 2468, another GI was also granted for the product “Cocoa almonds” from the South of Bahia. The protected geographical area includes more than 80 cities in the region.

The importance of the cocoa economic activity in the south of Bahia is historical, having been initiated in the middle of the XVIII century. In recent years, new generations of farmers have introduced innovations in farming methods and agricultural management, such as “fine cocoa” initiatives. The GI was requested by the Cocoa Producers Association of Southern Bahia.

Understanding Geographical Indication

The GI registry allows the delimitation of a geographical area, restricting the use of its name to the producers and service providers of the region (generally, organized in representative entities).

The GI denominated “Denomination of Origin” recognizes the name of a country, city or region whose product or service has certain specific characteristics thanks to its geographical environment, including natural and human factors.

The “Indication of Origin” species refers to the name of a country, city or region known as a center for the extraction, production or manufacture of a particular product or the provision of a particular service.

*Translated and adapted from the BPTO’s official webpage. The original publication (in Portuguese) can be found here.

Brazilian PTO discusses cooperation actions with Russia

Representatives from the Brazilian PTO attended a meeting with the general director of the Russian Federal Office for Intellectual Property (ROSPATENT) to discuss the next steps of cooperation between the two offices in the field of industrial property.

The meeting took place on April 17, during the “International Conference 1.0 on Digital Transformation: Intellectual Property and Blockchain Technologies”, held in the Russian capital.

During the meeting, a work plan for 2018 was defined, which includes actions such as the access to the Russian patent base and the PatSearch search tool; the introduction to ROSPATENT of BPTO’s computer program registration system; the ROSPATENT delegation visit to the BPTO for exchange of information on patent examination; the realization of bilateral meetings to exchange experiences and discussions on specific IP issues; and the participation of BPTO in ROSPATENT’s event.

The two offices also discussed topics related to internal management, second instance administrative jurisprudence and quality evaluation in the examination activities of the two offices, as well as topics related to the international IP system.

It is important to note that the cooperation in IP between Brazil and Russia was formalized through a memorandum of understanding signed on November 23, 2017, at the BPTO headquarters, during a visit of ROSPATENT’s general director.

*Translated and adapted from the BPTO’s official webpage. The original publication can be found here

BPTO and DKPTO signed an agreement to establish a Pilot Prosecution Highway (PPH)

Representatives of the BPTO and the Danish Patent and Trademark Office (DKPTO) signed a cooperation agreement on Thursday (12) to establish a Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot project.

Through PPH, Brazilians will be able to use the result of the examination of the patent application by the BPTO to accelerate the analysis in Denmark and vice versa. In this pilot phase, up to 100 patent applications per year in each country will be accepted by the PPH. The agreement will be valid for two years, covering the enrollment of 200 applications in the program in each office.

In the PPH pilot, the BPTO will only accept applications for patents related to mechanical engineering, lighting, heating, weapons and explosion, excluding any applications in the pharmaceutical segment. The DKPTO will accept patent applications from any technological field.

In addition, the BPTO will limit the participation of one applicant for application per month, except in the last month of the project.

Brazil is the first South American country with which the DKPTO signs this kind of cooperation agreement.

*Translated and adapted from the BPTO’s webpage. The original publication (In Portuguese) can be found here

The Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development announces a new BPTO

The Brazilian Federal Government is modernizing the Brazilian Industrial Property System. In collaboration with national and foreign partners, the Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services and the Brazilian Industrial Development Agency (ABDI) have implemented a series of measures to become more agile and efficient in the process of analysis and grant of patents by the Brazilian Patents and Trademarks Office (BPTO). In addition to investments in infrastructure, the government will create a simplified system for patents acceptance. The expectation is to attend about 204 thousand patent applications throughout the year 2018, significantly reducing the backlog of the institution.

In the last three years, the BPTO’s productivity has grown considerably, reaching record levels. In 2017, the institute closed the year with more decisions than applications reducing the backlog of patents (7.6%), trademarks (14.9%) and industrial designs (26%).

This January, the ABDI and the BPTO signed a Cooperation Agreement to reformulate the IT infrastructure and processes to accelerate examination. The agency’s investment was over US$ 10 million.

In addition, the Prosperity Fund of the British Government has also invested in the BPTO, ensuring convergence with international practices. In addition to these Initiatives, a greater number Patent Prosecution Highway (PPHs) – recently signed with the United States, European Union, China, Japan and Prosul (Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, and Uruguay). An agreement is also being negotiated with Denmark.

* translated and adapted from ABDI’s official webpage. You can check the original publication (in Portuguese) here

BPTO and UKIPO signed an agreement to establish a Pilot Prosecution Highway (PPH)

During the 10th meeting of the UK-Brazil Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) held in London, representatives of the Brazilian PTO and the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) have signed an agreement that may accelerate the analysis of patent applications. The agreement includes a pilot project of bilateral Patent Prosecution Highways (PPH). The programme, which will commence in the third quarter of 2018, builds on work initiated under the UK-Brazil Memorandum of Understanding on IP. It will support UK and Brazilian businesses via prioritized examination of patents already granted by one of the offices.

On average, the deadline is reduced from about 10 years (complete procedure) to nine months (time until the examination after entering the PPH). According to the Minister of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services, “patents granted with agility are essential to stimulate innovation and competitiveness of companies, including those who intend to invest in the foreign market. They also contribute to attracting investments to Brazil. “

The BPTO estimates that up to 100 patent applications per year may be included in the project. The technological fields will still be defined by the two institutes. Currently, Brazil has PPH projects with the United States, Japan, China, the European Patent Office and the Latin American countries (Prosur).

*Translated and adapted from the BPTO’s official webpage. You can check the official publication here

BRICS countries sign joint declaration on cooperation in Intellectual Property

Representatives from South Africa, Brazil, China, India and Russia signed a joint statement reaffirming cooperation among the countries in the field of Intellectual Property during the 10th Meeting of BRICS Heads of Intellectual Property Offices, held in Chengdu, China.
According to the joint declaration, signed on March 26, the main goals of this cooperation are: to promote the development of IP in the five countries; provide better services for users and the general public; and strengthen the participation of BRICS in the development of the global IP system.
In this context, the document addresses topics such as the exchange of experiences on IP legislation; public awareness of the importance of IP so that it is increasingly used, especially by micro, small and medium-sized enterprises; the encouragement of the training of examiners in the area of IP; strengthening the dissemination of IP information; and the cooperation of the BRICS in international forums.
*Translated and adapted from the BPTO’s official webpage. You can check the official publication (in Portuguese) here

BPTO and UKIPO launch Lambert Toolkit

The Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BPTO) and the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) launched during a workshop at the Federal University of Mina Gerais, the Lambert Toolkit, that contains samples of contracts for technology transfer in Brazil.
The Lambert Toolkit is an instrument created by the British government to facilitate cooperation agreements for development and technology transfer between universities and companies. The initiative also aims to reduce time, money and effort required to secure these agreements and provide examples of best practice.
The kits, which have been translated and adapted to the Brazilian legislation, are included in a cooperation agreement signed between the BPTO and UKIPO.
The Lambert Toolkit will be available soon (in Portuguese) at the British Government website https://www.gov.uk/.
*Translated and adapted from the BPTO’s official webpage. You can check the official publication (in Portuguese) here 

The Future of IP

It has become emblematic, in the first decades of the XXI century and with the gradual growth of the demand for services in Intellectual Property before the national IP offices, the initiative from many governments and international institutions to find means for the reduction of backlogs and the time spent by the applicant in obtaining a Letter Patent or a Certificate of Registration.

The first step in this painful process is to first recognize, in a national level, that a country that aims to be recognized as a strategic market cannot take a decade or so to grant a document to an applicant that will give him exclusive right over an IP asset; mostly because the expectation of rights (for the Patent, at least) usually is not enough to convince investors or other economical agents that may be interested in the asset. For the trademark, it’s even worse: only a Certificate is really useful in the negotiation of a license.

The second step, logically, is to study means to expedite the proceedings, without incurring in damages to the applicants. It’s true that a massive backlog is damaging enough, economically, but the improperly examination of a Patent or a Trademark can do even less for the assurance of a market.

Thus, in the many study groups that the national IP offices (and the Brazilian PTO, among them) established to find solutions for the backlogs and slow proceedings for each of their offices, they considered bilateral international agreements.

That’s the point, fortunately, that Brazil finds itself at this moment. In the last year our officials have been profusely busy negotiating PPHs (Patent Prosecution Highways) with other markets like U.S., Japan, Latin America (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay) and, soon E. U., that will allow the examinations of a Patent Application that already took place in certain IP offices to be validated in our own country with little effort – a logical unfolding of the absolute aspect of novelty as a Patent requirement.

For too much time we have been hostages of the illusion of the “sovereignty” in the examination proceeding. This element of independency has done little to correct possible mistakes by other IP offices around the world, with the serious setback of creating a backlog of almost a decade – in some cases – for the examination of a Patent.

Thus, as the PPHs start being enforced at its full strength, hopefully the backlogs will eventually clear off. The main force of the Brazilian PTO’s workers will be able to focus their capabilities in Patents first filed here in Brazil, on behalf of Brazilian inventors and companies and/or international companies that chose Brazil as a primary market for investment.

That would be a very refreshed vision of the “sovereignty” for which we all have been striving.

For more information regarding the PPHs already signed by Brazil, please access:

http://www.inpi.gov.br/menu-servicos/patente/projeto-piloto-pph

The Brazilian PTO (BPTO) issues Rule #193/2017 on expedited analysis of patent applications filed under the PCT

Recognizing a huge work backlog in the examination of Patent Applications (and expecting an increase of Patent Applications this year), the Brazilian Trademark and Patent Office (BPTO) issued on June 7th, 2017 the Official Resolution No. 193, to help solving the work backlog issue.

This procedure aims to expedite the examination of applications by increasing the examiners’ productivity.

This Resolution is directly related to PCT, and it defines that after June 13th, 2017 (i.e., last Tuesday) the search report for the applications coming from offices that work as International Searching and International Preliminary Examining Authorities under the PCT (ISA and IPEA) will be elaborated through the incorporation of the search performed by the respective office (directly related to the claimed priority.

Also, the documents that are the result of search from other offices (ISR) may be, from now on, directly incorporated to the search report.

Exceptions to this new development are the Patent Applications that already had the technical examination initiated by the BPTO, or the ones that had a priority for examination conceded by the BPTO or, yet, the ones that were targeted by third-party subsidies.

For more information, please contact patents@tavaresoffice.com.br.

Signed a New Agreement for the Examination of Pharmaceutical Patent Applications in Brazil

Yesterday (04/12/2017), in a formal ceremony held in Palácio do Planalto, in the capital Brasília, it was signed the much anticipated agreement between the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BPTO) and the National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA) regarding the examination of pharmaceutical patent applications.

In addition to expediting the processing and examination of patents in the pharmaceutical field, this will put an end to many lawsuits that exists over this issue. This will convert in benefits to Brazil, since this new found stability can attract investors to the field. Also, a final decision over certain patent applications can encourage companies to increase the production of certain products, generating more offers of pharmaceutical products in the Brazilian market.

The agreement signed yesterday was published also yesterday as a Joint Ordinance No. 1, with full effect on both entities proceedings. The main aspects of such agreement is summarized below.

As currently required by Article 229-C, ANVISA will continue to issue prior consent over patent application for pharmaceutical product or process (article 1 of the Joint Ordinance). However, article 4 of the Joint Ordinance prescribes that ANVISA will limit its analysis to the risk of the product or process to the public health. The risk is characterized by prohibited substances in Brazil. 

This procedure will be performed soon after the filing of examination request presented to the BPTO  (article 2 of the Joint Ordinance).

For those cases that may have great effect or consequences on public policies for health (related, for example, on the access of certain medications), ANVISA will be capable to offer subsidies for BPTO Examination. Therefore, ANVISA cannot interfere in the analysis of patentability requirements.

The BPTO, in turn, will evaluate the patentability requirements.  This Joint Ordinance is already in effect and, by force of its article 8, will affect all current patent application still pending, even the ones already examined by ANVISA.

Our office and our attorneys act before the BPTO and the ANVISA. We will be able to enforce the new Join Ordinance on benefit of your clients.

If you are interested in finding more about this Join Ordinance or the measures that can be taken to expedite your client’s patent applications in the pharmaceutical field in Brazil, please contact us at info@tavaresoffice.com.br