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AGREEMENT: Exports will have $ 10 billion more

26/07/2019

Much has been said about the free market agreement between Southern Common Market and the European Union and what are the impacts on the Brazilian economy. According to the National Confederation of Industry (CNI), the deal could add nearly $ 10 billion in exports from Brazil to the EU. Negotiated for over 20 years, it represents the largest trade pact ever signed by both parties, with the creation of a market of 780 million consumers.
Brazil exported more than US $ 42 billion to the EU in 2018, approximately 18% of the total exported by the country. This means that reducing tax rates and legislation, the deal offers even greater business opportunities for domestic companies. However, the pact also underscores the need for change in the policies of national companies.
According to Rodrigo Zambon, the subregional director of TMF Group in Brazil, the deal will take some time to go into effect, giving companies the time to make adjustments. “The deal still needs to go through 28 countries, so the time to prepare your business without getting hurt is now,” he added. Check out the 5 main characteristics that must be adopted by Brazilian companies so that they can actively participate in the agreement.

FOODS

All imported food must comply with EU standards – the rules apply to all products sold in the EU, whether domestically produced or imported, so Brazilian companies need to ensure that they comply with all rules. For example: ensuring appropriate and transparent information about source, content, and labeling.

INSPECTION

Commitments on labor inspection, health, and safety at work – Companies wishing to make trade agreements in EU countries must ensure that fundamental labor rights, as defined by the International Labor Organization (ILO), are fulfilled and respected.

ENVIRONMENT

Trade agreements should not come at the expense of the environment – under the agreement, companies must promote sustainable development and agree not to lower environmental standards to promote trade and attract investment. The agreement also incorporates the so-called “precautionary principle”. If there is any suspicion of deforestation or the use of pesticides not allowed in the EU, the economic bloc can veto the importation of the Brazilian product, even when the scientific analysis is not conclusive.

PATENTS

Strong intellectual property rights provisions – Brazil has committed to updating its intellectual property law based on international standards of legislation. Examples of this strategy are the copyright section and the trademark section, which companies will have to abide by.

STANDARDIZATION

Transparency and the use of international standards – Different technical regulations and rules/standards for products from other markets can be a major obstacle for exporters because they impose extra costs for adaptation. The agreement promotes transparency and the use of international standards to facilitate market access while protecting the levels of protection that each party considers appropriate.
For Zambon, beginning to understand and implement action plans will create a competitive advantage when the deal goes into effect. “Companies that start updating their policies will now have more time to adapt and probably less costs to implement than those leaving at the last minute,” he said.
 
News from: Diário da Amazônia

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BPTO starts publications about the Combat Patent Backlog Plan

23/07/2019

The BPTO published in the Industrial Property Journal (RPI) on Tuesday (July 23, 2019) the first orders of the preliminary requirement (code 6.21) referring to the Combat Patent Backlog Plan. The procedure contemplates the patent applications in which BPTO incorporated the search report made by offices of other countries, according to the terms of Resolution No. 241/19.
The purpose of the published requirement is for the Applicant to express himself/herself on the documents cited and, if necessary, make adjustments to the application. Only after the response of the applicant, the BPTO’s Examiner will evaluate whether or not the patent should be granted, based on the Brazilian Industrial Property Law (9,279 / 1996). If the Applicant does not appear, the application will be definitively filed.
In order for users to be able to organize themselves to meet the requirements, the BPTO published statements in three editions of its official journal about this subject.

Preparation

The Board of Patents teams underwent intense preparation weeks before the Patent Backlog Plan was put into practice. New procedures were developed by the Quality Group and trainings were conducted with heads and examiners on the procedures to be implemented.
In early July, a general meeting was held to align information on planning, project implementation, and future capacity building, quality, and studies to address the current demand for order deposits. Examiners filled out at the regional units followed the distance meeting, so that they were also ready to support and inform users in the different states of Brazil.
 
News from: BPTO

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BPTO will launch system access for opinions

19/07/2019

The BPTO is finalizing a system that will allow the user to expedite the retrieval of the opinions generated during the examination of patent applications and published in the Industrial Property Magazine. The system, which provides the opinions for consultation and downloaded by machines, was presented by the Patent Office and the Information Technology General Coordination on July 15, 2019 for the Brazilian Association of Industrial Property Agents (ABAPI) and the Brazilian Association of Intellectual Property (ABPI), in order to resolve doubts and raise suggestions.
The initiative is within the framework of the Backlog Combat Plan, in order to facilitate access to the documentation produced by the examiners, be it the opinions of preliminary requirements, search reports or other opinions regarding the examination of the requests.
The system, which will commence operations in August, will retrieve documents relating to patent applications with the following official notices: 6.20 (pre-examination opinion), 6.21 (opinion with the search of documents made by IP offices in other countries) and 6.22 no search of other IP offices).
 
News from: BPTO

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INPI and EPO extend their cooperation

18/07/2019

The Brazilian Patent Office (BPTO) and the European Patent Office (EPO) agreed on July 17, 2019 to work on broadening their cooperation. EPO President António Campinos and BPTO President Claudio Vilar Furtado signed a Joint Declaration in this regard at a bilateral meeting held during an event between the EPO and the IP offices of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries held in Munich, in Germany. They also signed an agreement renewing BPTO’s access to the EPOQUE Net database, an EPO patent search tool with more than 1.3 billion references.
In the Joint Statement, the Officers agreed to work on a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a pilot project, to strengthen the capacity to search and examine patent applications in the BPTO.
After the ceremony, Campinos highlighted the importance of cooperation with BPTO: “I am pleased to sign this Joint Declaration today since traditionally Brazil has been an important cooperation partner for the EPO in Latin America. BPTO has a great deal of expertise in the patent granting process and, with today’s signature, we are paving the way for a closer relationship between offices, benefiting businesses in both regions. ”
Along the same lines, Furtado said: “BPTO welcomes the expansion of the partnership with the EPO. This is an essential step in the modernization of the Institute, the pillar of Brazilian development, to make it a world-class player in industrial property. ”
Cooperation between BPTO and EPO began in 2000, with a first technical cooperation project between offices. This was followed by a series of bilateral agreements extending cooperation to include BPTO access to EPOQUE Net (in 2005) and, in 2017, a joint Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot program, which allows applicants to request priority treatment for their pending patent applications at BPTO and EPO.

About EPO

With 7,000 employees, the European Patent Office (EPO) is one of the largest public service institutions in Europe. Headquartered in Munich and with offices in Berlin, Brussels, The Hague and Vienna, the EPO was founded to strengthen patent cooperation in Europe. Through the centralized patent granting procedure of the EPO, inventors can obtain high-quality patent protection in up to 44 countries covering a market of about 700 million people. The EPO is also one of the world’s leading patent information and search authorities.
 
News from: BPTO

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The approved project that reduces the term of patent of medicines

12/07/2019

The Social Affairs Commission (CAS) approved the Senate Bill (PLS) 437/2018 on Wednesday. The bill limits the ownership of drug patents by 20 years. Authorized by Senator José Serra (PSDB-SP), the proposal adapts Brazilian legislation to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which Brazil is a signatory.
TRIPS – signed by Brazil, the United States, the European Union, Japan and other nations in 1994 – provides that property rights over intellectual creation, a patent, expire after 20 years of registration.
PLS 437/2018 received a favorable vote from the Rapporteur, Senator Romário (Podemos Party-RJ). In his evaluation, the project has the potential to improve the licensing of medicines patents in the country. From the sanitary point of view, said Romário, the project corrects flaws or omissions in the legislation in force.
“Through these extended patent validation strategies, the industry delays the arrival of generic drugs on the market and prolongs its economic gains from the original product monopoly. This harms both consumers directly and public pharmaceutical care policies, in which the main purchaser of medicines is the government, and in this context, the measures envisaged in the project under review reinforce Anvisa’s role and its obligation to evaluate patent applications from the perspective of health interest,” said the senator.
The text was followed by the Commission for Science, Technology, Innovation, Communication and Information Technology (CCT) and then by the Commission on Constitution, Justice, and Citizenship (CCJ), which will be a final decision.
 
News from: Agência Senado

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Madrid Protocol: Learn how to apply

11/07/2019

On July 2, 2019, Brazil filed at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) the instrument of adhesion to the Madrid Protocol, an international treaty that simplifies and reduces costs for the registration of trademarks of Brazilian companies in other countries.
The treaty enters into force in Brazil on October 2, 2019. As of that date, the Brazilian applicant who intends to register a trademark in other countries via the Madrid Protocol will file an international application within the BPTO. It can be a multiclass application and with more than one applicant in co-ownership.
In turn, the foreign applicant who wishes to register a trademark in Brazil may also choose to use the Madrid Protocol.
The filing is electronic, by means of payment of the Union Collection Guide (GRU) and then filling in the English or Spanish form MM2 in E-trademarks, a system also used for the national filing.
 
News from: BPTO

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After Mercosur-EU, Brazil negotiates other international trade agreements

09/07/2019

The agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, signed at the end of June, may be the beginning of a series of new international trade treaties involving Brazil. The special secretary of Foreign Trade and International Affairs, Marcos Troyjo, recently reported that new agreements, with other countries and blocs, are under negotiation.

The countries involved are the United States, Japan, South Korea and Efta, a bloc of countries comprising Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein. This block is not part of the European Union. For Troyjo, the agreement with the European Union brings a “new model of economic development and international insertion” for Brazil.
Speech aligned with that of the Foreign Minister, Ernesto Araújo, who also stressed the new vision of “international insertion” of the country. “This agreement [Mercosur-EU] unlocks and accelerates other negotiations, we intend very soon to close new agreements. I think we have the condition to close two more agreements this semester, at least”, the foreign minister said at a press conference.

He added Singapore to the list of ongoing negotiations. The minister believes that over a two-year period, the government will create a “very dense network of trade agreements with major economies, technological hubs”.
Currently, Mercosur has two free trade agreements signed with Egypt and Israel. The two already validated by Brazilian presidential decrees. Brazil has signed a free trade agreement with Chile, but the process has not yet begun. International agreements before they come into force need congressional endorsement.
According to the technical area of the Ministry of Economy and Foreign Trade, “there is great interest in closer economic-trade ties with Japan and the United States, but there is no negotiation of a trade agreement in progress at this time”, despite what the minister said and the special secretary. All agreements under negotiation are via Mercosur.

Impact

The agreements cover several areas ranging from trade in goods and services to intellectual property, according to the ministry. Among the impacts, it is expected that, as of the closing of the agreements, it will be possible to “eliminate import tariffs for substantially all trade between the parties and reduce non-tariff barriers, generating additional increases to the Brazilian GDP.”

Countries under negotiation:

United States
  • GDP: US $ 21.06 trillion (first quarter of 2019)
  • Population: 329.2 million
  • Income per capita: US $ 59,800 (2017)
  • 1st world economy

Brazil intends to take advantage of the timeframe of the Trade Promotion Authority – a document that the US Congress grants the Executive to negotiate international agreements, valid until July 2021 – to accelerate negotiations with the United States, said Marcos Troyjo, in an interview with the BBC Brazil.

Japan
  • GDP: $ 4,873 trillion (2017)
  • Population: 126.1 million (July / 2018)
  • Income per capita: US $ 42,900 (2017)
  • 3rd world economy
South Korea
  • GDP: US $ 1.54 trillion (2017)
  • Population: 51.4 million (July / 2018)
  • Income per capita: US $ 39,500 (2017)
  • 11th world economy

Negotiations on an agreement between Mercosur and South Korea began in May 2018 and are in the initial phase. Two rounds of negotiations were held.

Canada
  • GDP: $ 1,653 trillion (2017)
  • Population: 35.8 million (July / 2018)
  • Income per capita: US $ 48,400 (2017)
  • 10th world economy

According to the Ministry of Economy and Foreign Trade, negotiations for this agreement were announced on March 9, 2018, in Asuncion, Paraguay. The negotiations are advanced. Six negotiating rounds have already been held – the most recent in June this year.

Singapore
  • GDP: US $ 323.9 billion (2017)
  • Population: 5.9 million (July / 2018)
  • Income per capita: US $ 94,100 (2017)
  • 35th world economy

A round of negotiations was held with the country and the expectation of completion is 2020, according to the ministry.

Efta – European Free Trade Association
  • Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein
  • The four countries together bring together 13.7 million people
  • GDP of the block: EUR 963.9 million

    A Joint Declaration between the blocs was signed on January 19, 2017, to complete the exploratory dialogues on free trade. As of June this year, nine negotiation rounds have been held and some chapters of the agreement have already been finalized.

The dialogue with Efta began in December 2000, when the Joint Mercosur-EFTA Committee emerged. The bloc already has a free trade agreement with Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
Block Negotiations

  • Efta with Brazil
    Imports: EUR 1,906 million
    Exports: EUR 2,671 million
  • Efta with Mercosur
    Imports: 2,093 million euros
    Exports: 3,696 million euros
  • Efta Worldwide Businesses
    Imports: EUR 255,3 million
    Exports: 310.7 million euros

 
News from: Gazeta do Povo
 

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Brazilian government announces a plan to accelerate the analysis of patent applications

08/07/2019

The Ministry of Economy announced on Wednesday (July 3) measures to reduce the number of patent applications for analysis (backlog) by 80% by 2021 and reduce to approximately two years the BPTO’s average grant of patents term.
Economy Minister Paulo Guedes had participated in the launch of the Patents Backlog Combat Plan and said that the government is making important advances to stimulate the industry, increase the productivity and competitiveness of the Brazilian economy in the future. “We are in the knowledge economy, these intangible values such as patent law, trademark, property law are increasingly important,” he said.
According to the special secretary of Productivity, Employment and Competitiveness of the Ministry of Economy, Carlos da Costa, today, the backlog reaches 160 thousand applications. “We have patents being assessed now that they were deposited 11 years ago. Imagine a technology today, in the digital age, where everything is very fast, and 11 years later the patent is no longer so relevant, “he said.
For Costa, with the agility in granting patents, Brazil should stimulate innovation and become more competitive and integrated globally. He explains that in addition to preserving the right of the investor, the patent guarantees the dissemination of new technologies and allows other researchers to develop other patents.
The main novelty will be the analysis of national or foreign patent applications, which have already been evaluated in another country (80% of those in the queue). As of this month, BPTO will incorporate to the examination of these requests the search of patents realized abroad. In the case of patents that have not yet been evaluated abroad, the search will be made by the BPTO examiner.
According to the secretary, it is not an automatic patent authorization, but the use of the analyzes made in other countries. “The patent review processes were too long and had a lot of rework – many of these patents had already been granted internationally and started from scratch here. Now, let’s start from certain patent bases already recognized or already registered, “explained Costa.
The Patents Backlog Combat Plan does not include applications that received third-party subsidies or those with priority examination requirements. The use of the priority examination modalities of patent applications in the BPTO already allows the granting of patents in reduced terms, in about eight months.
Priority examinations benefit groups such as the elderly, micro and small businesses, science and technology institutions, green technology developers and participants in the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) – a project between national/regional patent offices in which a country takes advantage of the exam the partner to perform their analysis.

Madrid Protocol

During the event, Minister Paulo Guedes spoke about Brazil’s accession to the Madrid Protocol, an international treaty that facilitates and reduces the cost of registering Brazilian companies’ brands in other countries. “This will greatly stimulate the Brazilian industry, reciprocal recognition of brands, increase the competitiveness of Brazilian products abroad,” he said, noting also the possibility of more investments for the country with the recognition of foreign brands in Brazil.
Guedes also highlighted the cooperation of the Legislature to move Brazil’s accession to the protocol, which had been standing for 16 years in the Chamber of Deputies. The adhesion to the protocol was approved in the Congress in May of this year and signed by the president Jair Bolsonaro last week. The agreement, administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), was adopted on June 27, 1989, and has been in effect since 1996 in other nations.
According to the Ministry of Economy, the adhesion to the term was delivered today at WIPO. With this, the new system starts operating in October at BPTO. Brazilian companies will be able to simultaneously register their trademarks in 102 countries signatories of the agreement, presenting documentation only in Brazil, with the BPTO.
 
News from: Agência Brasil

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A project that exempts hotels from the payment of copyright is on the agenda of the CCT

05/07/2019

The project that exempts hotels, motels and inns from the payment of copyright for playing music in the rooms is on the agenda of the Commission on Science, Technology, Innovation, Communication and Information Technology (CCT), on Wednesday (3). Senator Davi Alcolumbre (DEM-AP) is the author of the proposal (PLS 60/2016).
The article has a favorable vote by the rapporteur, Senator Flávio Arns (Rede-PR), who presented a substitute to add to the text of the Copyright Law (Law 9.610, of 1998) the classification of lodging facilities included in the General Tourism Law (LGT – Law No. 11,771, of 2008).
The LGT determines that there are two types of ambiances in the hosting area: the individual frequency spaces (those for the exclusive use of the guest) and those of public frequency (those of general use, including guests and non-guests). For this reason, it is necessary to include one more hypothesis among cases where the reproduction of musical works, music-videos, phonograms and audiovisual works does not represent an offense against copyright.

Artists

In early June, David received a visit from the president’s residence. They defended the maintenance of the collection fee of the Central Office of Collection and Distribution (Ecad), contrary to what is also provided by another project with the same content, PL 1.829 / 2019, reported in the Commission on Constitution and Justice (CCJ) by Senator Randolfe Rodrigues (Rede-AP), which has already requested the joint processing of the material.
At the opportunity, David asked Randolfe to open a dialogue between hotel businessmen and the art class to enable the vote on the matter.

Other items

On the agenda of the CCT, with 12 items, are still other projects and the deliberation on granting authorization to run community radio service in municipalities of Minas Gerais, Goiás, Ceará, and Sergipe.
The deliberative meeting begins shortly after the extraordinary meeting to consider the amendments to the proposed Budgetary Guidelines Law (PLN 5/2019), scheduled for 10:00 am, in room 19 of Senator Alexandre Costa.
 
News from: Agência Senado

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Agreement with the EU must rename products in Mercosur due to the protection of Geographical Indications

02/07/2019

The agreement between the European Union (EU) and Mercosur may prohibit the nomenclature of some products in the bloc of which Brazil is part due to the chapter dealing with Intellectual Property Rights. Cognac, such as Dreher, different proseccos and Budweiser beer must have to gain new names because of Geographical Indications (GI), used in commodities that have a specific origin and possess qualities or reputations that are due to that location, and a of the main obstacles in the negotiations that have dragged on for 20 years.
According to a document released on Monday in Brussels, the European bloc will have 355 regional food and beverage products protected by this distinction, while the South American side will have 220 recognized delicacies. This means that nomenclature for non-genuine products of such a GI shall be prohibited and expressions such as “type”, “made in”, “style”, “imitation” or similar shall not be permitted. The agreement protects the misleading use of symbols, banners or images, suggesting a “false” geographical origin.
The term “cognac” is used only for the beverage produced in the Cognac region of western France. All other similar beverages are sold as “brandy”. In Brazil, the term is used interchangeably, but it has to be renamed: protection has been reinforced by the possibility of defending rights through administrative enforcement, including measures taken by customs officials at the border. The applicable sanctions range from court injunctions that prevent unauthorized use for the payment of damages and fines or, in serious cases, imprisonment.
In some cases, transitional periods have been granted to local producers to cease the use of the name within a certain period, which has not been revealed by either party. There are a very limited number of exceptions, under the so-called “grandfathering principle”, which were granted to pre-identified producers who had already sold products with these names on the market for some years. These companies may continue to use the name subject to approval.

Budweiser

In 2010, the European Court of Justice rejected AB InBev’s application to have the region-wide trademark and exclusive use of the Budweiser name for beers and other beverages because Budvar of the Czech Republic owns the trademark rights in the Austria and Germany. Both beers have been around for over 100 years. Budvar maintains that it holds the right because its beer comes from the Czech city Ceské Budejovice, or Budweis, in German. The strategy seems even more sagacious because restrictions are also placed on the marketing of these items with third countries, which may include Brazil.

Protected Products

Currently, the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BPTO) – linked to the Ministry of Economy – recognizes nine denominations of foreign origin, seven of them European. Among the items highlighted by the EU after the signing of the agreement, the new products include Tyrolean ham (Austria), Herve cheese (Belgium), Munich beer (Germany), Comté cheese (France), parma ham (Italy), Polish vodka, São Jorge cheese (Portugal), tokaji wine (Hungary) and jabugo ham (Spain).
On the Mercosur side, some of the products include wines from Mendoza (Argentina), and cachaças from Paraty (RJ), Salinas (MG) and Abaíra (BA). The list of cheeses does not come close enough to the dozens of protected dairy products of Europeans but includes the Canastra and Serro (MG) cheeses, as well as the Witmarsum Colony (PR). Based on the “open lists” principle, the agreement will allow new names, from both parties, to be added after the entry into force.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, GI’s “identify a product as originating in a country, city, region or locality of its territory, where a particular quality, reputation or another characteristic of the product is essentially attributed to its geographical origin”. They arose as producers, traders, and consumers began to identify that certain products from certain places had particular qualities attributable to their origin. Distinguishing products and services through geographical indications promotes the promotion of the region, adding value and communication to the market regarding attributes of quality, typicality, tradition and cultural heritage.
News from: Correio do Povo