Region: Brazil

The agribusiness sector has been rapidly developing thanks to large investments in technology. As a result, it is essential that innovations are properly protected. Safeguarding plant varieties is key, and there are multiple ways to go about doing so.

18 December 2019

Lawsuit judgments tend to affect the parties of the legal proceeding only, as they have participated in the constitution of a specific res judicata. However, in some cases, a decision has an impact on legal positions beyond those originally part of the proceeding – namely, on third parties’ legal interests. This is often the case in patent nullity actions.

11 December 2019

Biodiversity in Brazil has significant potential to treat many diseases and health problems. As such, it is of great importance in the R&D of drugs and compounds, which are protectable by patents. However, legislation on national genetic heritage must be accurately observed when filing for a patent.

04 December 2019

Brazil has dropped significantly in international innovation rankings, now occupying the lowest positions in these boards. There is debate over the reason for the lack of development in the tech sector, especially with regard to patents based on AI and machine-learning technologies. However, the political situation and the National Institute of Industrial Property’s huge patent backlog are widely believed to be behind the fall.

27 November 2019

On 22 October 2019 INPI launched Resolution 252/2019, which merges the rules and procedures of all the current Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH)  pilot projects. All previous PPH pilot programmes will be revoked on 30 November 2019. According to INPI, the resolution aims to simplify procedures for both users and the office and expands the potential of these agreements, with the aim of reducing the patent backlog.

20 November 2019

While the Civil Procedure Code clearly states that plaintiffs must produce evidence on contested issues, this can be reversed if it is impossible or excessively difficult for the plaintiff to perform the duty or when evidence can be easily obtained by the other party

13 November 2019

In a big win for patent owners, the first-of-its-kind ruling upholds biotech innovators’ rights to collect royalties on saved GM seeds

05 November 2019

Senate Bill 437/2018, which seeks to amend the Brazilian Industrial Property Law, is being processed by the National Congress. It proposes to eliminate any doubts about the applicable term of validity and means that rights holders will no longer be able to enjoy patent exclusivity for more than 20 years.

30 October 2019

Motivated by the increasing demand for patients who use cannabis for therapeutic purposes and the need to import the product, the Brazilian Health Surveillance Agency has launched two public consultation proposals, which aim to create clear and transparent rules on technical requirements for cannabis-based drugs.

23 October 2019

The National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) has released a report entitled “Use of Industrial Property System by Start-ups”, which combines data provided by the Brazilian Association of Start-ups with information in the INPI and Federal Revenue databases to analyse the use of industrial and intellectual property by start-ups in Brazil. The report found a relatively low number of IP mechanisms in use but determined that the most popular field among start-ups is IT services.

09 October 2019