Author: Mariana Leite

After Mercosur-EU, Brazil negotiates other international trade agreements

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mercosur and the European Union close the biggest agreement between blocks of the world

The countries of Mercosur and the European Union will form one of the largest free trade areas on the planet from the agreement announced on June 28 in Brussels. Together, the two blocs represent about 25% of the world economy and a market of 780 million people. When considering the number of countries involved and the territorial extent, the agreement only loses to the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, which involves 44 countries in Africa and was signed in March this year. Even so, the European Union and Mercosur made the biggest deal between economic blocs in history, which should boost trade between the two continents.

The free trade agreement will eliminate import tariffs for more than 90% of the products marketed between the two blocs. For products that will not have tariffs eliminated, preferential import quotas with reduced tariffs will be applied. The tariff elimination process varies according to each product and should take up to 15 years from the entry into force of the intercontinental partnership.

According to the National Confederation of Industry (CNI), the agreement reduces, for example, from 17% to zero tariffs on imports of Brazilian products like footwear and increases the competitiveness of industrial goods in sectors such as textiles, chemicals, auto parts, timber and aeronautical. A study by the Confederation shows that, of the 1,101 products that Brazil is able to export to the European Union, 68% face import tariffs. With the opening of the European market for highly competitive Brazilian agricultural products, more investments must be made in the domestic industry itself, as industry data show that agribusiness consumes R $ 300 million in industrialized goods in Brazil for every R $ 1 billion exported.

For the Mercosur countries, a block formed by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay (and Venezuela, which is suspended), the agreement provides for a period of more than a decade of tariff reductions for products more sensitive to the competitiveness of European industry. In the European case, most of the import duty will be zero as soon as the treaty enters into force.

“This agreement gives new life to Mercosur, which had never negotiated with large countries, but only with small economy nations such as Egypt and Palestine,” said Ammar Abdelaziz, a consultant at BMJ Consultoria.

In the opinion of Ambassador José Botafogo Gonçalves, vice president of the Brazilian Center for International Relations (Cebri) and former Minister of Industry and Commerce of the Fernando Henrique Cardoso government, besides the commercial advantages of the agreement, there is a perspective of better regulatory coordination among countries of Mercosur. “This agreement increases the responsibility of the customs union, which is Mercosur, in the coordination of its macroeconomic policies, of greater convergence in trade policies. Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay have to realize that their destination is common,” he says.

Trade and investment

Estimates from the Ministry of Economy indicate that the agreement will represent an increase of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP, sum of all goods and services produced in the country) of US $ 87.5 billion over 15 years, and could reach up to US $ 125 billion if reduction of non-tariff barriers and the expected increase in productivity. The increase in investments in Brazil, in the same period, will be in the order of US $ 113 billion. With regard to bilateral trade, Brazilian exports to the European Union will present almost US $ 100 billion in earnings by 2035.

“With the expansion of the trade agenda, both imports and exports, you favor trade with whom you made an agreement, you create a trade with that part and divert trade with another part. I see it as an important geopolitical strategy, we are less dependent, for example, on the export of commodities to countries like China. If China blocks the market, you have no one to export. Now, this scenario is more favorable,” says economist Danielle Sandi, a professor in the Department of Administration at the University of Brasília (UnB).

Multilateralism

Privileged access to the European market is considered to be one of the most complex negotiations to be made, and so the announcement of this agreement creates a positive environment for Mercosur to consolidate further negotiations.

“It is an agreement with one of the most difficult blocs in matters of sanitary or phytosanitary requirements, so I believe it will facilitate negotiations with other countries and blocs, such as those with Canada and the countries of northern Europe,” says Ammar Abdelaziz.

The agreement also legitimizes free trade and multilateralism, which have been under constant attack because of the trade war between China and the United States and the adoption of protectionist measures by various countries. “The agreement can show a breath on this issue of multilateralism. Trade is the main engine of this, but this may be possible in other areas of international relations too,” says Danielle Sandi.

For Ambassador José Botafogo Gonçalves, there is a crisis of multilateralism, so the free trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur has a fundamental geopolitical weight at the moment. “When it comes to trade multilateralism, which is the goal of the World Trade Organization, we have to recognize that there is a crisis. The world is not ready and I do not know if it is going to go back to the moment before this crisis. occurs, you have to go to regionalism, then the agreement between Mercosur and EU fills a vacuum left by multilateralism” he says.

Ratification

Even after 20 years of negotiations, there is still a long way to go before the agreement between Mercosur and the EU will actually take effect. This is because the treaty needs to be ratified and internalized by each of the member states of both economic blocs. In practice, it means that the agreement will have to be approved by the national parliaments and governments of the 31 countries involved, a process that will take years and may face resistance.

“There is a tendency for resistance in the parliaments of European countries, especially nationalist parties and also environmentalists,” says Ammar Abdelaziz of BMJ Consultoria. According to him, it is not possible to stipulate a deadline for the end of this ratification by the Europeans. In the Brazilian case, the agreement will now be analyzed by the ministries involved and then sent to the National Congress, where it will process by commissions and will have to approve both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. “On average, Brazil takes around three to four years to ratify international agreements, it will not be less than that.”

It is only in the medium term that the more concrete effects of the free trade agreement can be felt by the population in general, such as eventual fall in the price of imported products and, mainly, an increase of investments and growth of the economy. “The prospect of this agreement for ordinary citizens is that the expansion of trade is reflected in the expansion of GDP, and from the growth of the economy there will be more generation of jobs and income and increased revenue for the government,” explains Danielle Sandi of UnB.

 

News from: Agência Brasil

Bolsonaro signs adherence to the Madrid Protocol

The Brazilian President signed on Wednesday (25) the Brazilian adherence to the Madrid Protocol, on the international registration of trademarks. The National Congress gave its consent to the agreement last month.

According to a statement from the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, by adhering to the Protocol, Brazilian companies will be able to register their trademarks simultaneously in 102 countries members of the Agreement, presenting documentation only in Brazil, with the BPTO.

The Protocol will be fully in effect within 90 days, “after the formalities are met before the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), based in Geneva, and should be promulgated internally within the same period”, explains a note from Itamaraty.

We hope to return soon with new Normative Instruction issued by the BPTO on the implementation of the Madrid Protocol in Brazil.

News from: IstoÉ

INPI is a partner in a meeting promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture

The Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply is organizing the Workshop on the Recognition of Brazilian Geographical Indications (IG) in the European Union on 24 and 25 June in Brasilia.

The meeting will be attended by consultant Liliana Locatelli, who will address the Geographical Indications system in Brazil, and the Portuguese consultant Ana Soeiro, who will present the procedures for GIs protection of third-country in the European Union.

The program also includes lectures on the structure, control and traceability procedures of GI of the São Matheus (erva mate) and Cerrado Mineiro Region (coffee), as well as a panel where the promotion of Brazilian products abroad will be discussed.

According to the Secretariat of Innovation, Rural Development, and Map Irrigation, it is essential that the Brazilian GIs have a strategy to reach the international market, so the event is aimed at producers and technicians linked to potential and registered Geographical Indications.

The workshop is foreseen in the Map project within the framework of the European Union-Brazil Sectorial Dialogues, with the partnership of the Brazilian Service of Support to Micro and Small Enterprises (Sebrae), the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI), the Ministry of Economy(ME) and the European Union Delegation in Brazil (Delbra).

Registration is limited and can be made until the 19th (Wednesday).

IG
Geographical Indications (GIs) are important instruments of differentiation and valorization of products and their regions, enabling the aggregation of value and reach to quality markets, in a globalized world characterized by competition in agrifood chains.

The GIs characterize products differentiated by their typicality, quality, tradition, and culture in production. It is an intellectual property asset recognized and valued internationally, mainly in the European Union. Countries like France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal have several products registered as a geographical indication and their consumers recognize and value these products, as well as being their main products exported.

For more informations:
General Coordination of Social Communication
Inez De Podestà
press@agricultura.gov.br

News from: MAPA GOV

INPI promises to reduce patent backlogs by 80%

The president of INPI (National Institute of Industrial Property), Cláudio Furtado, said that in two years, backlogs (stock orders pending decision) will be reduced from 7.5 to 2 years of waiting.

The announcement was made during the CAS Summit de Inovação, an event held by the Chemical Abstracts Service (a division of the American Chemical Society) that discussed the challenges to innovation in Brazil with the presence of chemical giants such as Basf, Braskem, Ultrapar, and Abiquim.

Currently, the backlog in the registration of patents in Brazil reaches 7.2 years. When reducing to two years, the INPI’s President intends to see Brazil become a reference in intellectual property in the world. “If Brazil produces 30,000 patent applications a year and China 1.5 million, there is something very wrong here and we are struggling to reverse this scenario,” Furtado said.

“This means that we will increase our efficiency in technical decisions by 350%. Currently, we take 17 thousand technical decisions per year and we will start to realize 64 thousand “, affirmed the INPI president.

This will be possible, according to Furtado, thanks to a series of measures that have been put into practice to improve productivity. One is teleworking, which is giving the opportunity for a portion of the examiners to work from home.

“The goal was for them to increase their efficiency by 30% with this measure and the result was better than we expected, as it reached 41%,” he explained.

Another initiative is the simplification of the examination of patents with the aid of a program that offers legal certainty to decisions without the examiner losing its autonomy by deciding whether or not to grant the registration.

The INPI’s President also celebrated Brazil’s accession to the Madrid Protocol, recently approved by Congress and expected to be signed by President Jair Bolsonaro next week.

As a result, the brand owner can protect it at one time in 120 different countries, which account for about 80% of global trade.

The trademark “Café do Brasil”, for example, is only valid in Brazil until a businessman in Turkey decided to register it in his country. This type of problem damages many national markets and we have to make the small and medium exporter have their trademarks protected internationally, “exemplified Cláudio Furtado. As a result, the trademark owner can protect it at one time in 120 different countries, which account for about 80% of global trade.

News from: Segs

Brazil discusses marijuana cultivation release for medical and research purposes

The National Health Regulatory Agency (Anvisa) discussed on Tuesday, June 11, 2019, the legalization of marijuana cultivation and production in the country for medical and scientific purposes. Currently, cannabis planting, the plant’s scientific name, is banned in Brazil. However, but some groups and associations have obtained judicial decisions for the cultivation of marijuana in Brazil.

The board of Anvisa discusses the possibility of bringing to the public consultation two proposals under analysis since 2017. The first that creates rules the cannabis planting in Brazil for research and production of medicines. A second on the criteria for registration, monitoring, and marketing of these products.

Currently, in the country, the agency already authorizes applications for the importation of oils and drugs mainly based on cannabidiol, the most common marijuana substratum in drug production. Currently, only the production of a drug is allowed in the country.

The use of marijuana derivatives is more common in degenerative diseases like Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis up to some levels of autism and cancers.

If both opinions of the technical consultancy of Anvisa are approved, the proposals will be taken to the public consultation. After this stage, the technicians finalize a final project that will have to be voted by the Agency’s board again. There is no estimate yet when the technical standard could take effect.

Prohibition inhibits research and new herbal medicines

According to the president of Knox Medical, Mario Grieco “The lack of regulation and the prohibition of local cultivation of cannabis inhibit the research and the development of innovative medicines based on the herb in Brazil”. In addition to the economic benefits, local production could enable more than two million patients to use the herb in the treatment of various diseases. “We have a repressed market of potential users, but it will expand as studies into new indications for medical cannabis are completed,” he says.

According to the president of ABPI, Luiz Edgard Montaury Pimenta, bureaucratic issues in Brazil have hampered the pace of innovation by companies in the national market. “The recovery of the country’s economy is strongly linked to investments in innovation,” says Pimenta.

Data from a recent economic study on cannabis produced by Green Hub in partnership with New Frontier Data will be analyzed by Mario Grieco during the 39th International

Congress on Intellectual Property of the Brazilian Association of Intellectual Property (ABPI) from August 25 to 27, in Rio de Janeiro. According to him, there are over six thousand studies in progress in the laboratories, which exceed US $ 1 billion per year, on the use of cannabis.

The event, the largest of its kind in Latin America, is expected to receive around 1,000 participants, including experts, magistrates, consultants, lawyers, government officials and heads of international entities – such as the CTA – China’s intellectual property AIPPI – International Association of Intellectual Property -, as well as private research centers.

 

News from: Estadão and DCI

IBM was the top patent recipient in 2018 for the 26th year in a row

 

IBM earned for the 26th year in a row more patents than any other company in the US during the year of 2018. The record number, 9,100, includes a growing number of inventions related to artificial intelligence and quantum computing, which many people see as critical technologies of the future. Samsung was second with 5,850 patents while tech giants Apple and Microsoft also appeared in the top ten.

Among the more than 1,600 AI-related patents IBM secured during 2018 was one for Project Debater, a tool that uses machine learning techniques to simulate real life debates on a wide for variety of topics. IBM goes on to explain that the work in these and other areas often begins long before there is any associated practical enterprise uses for the technology the company is probing. The company throughout the year explored many disparate areas of technology — such as ways to promote health and safety, patenting methods for smart wearables to communicate with electronic components embedded in prostheses, from hearing aids to prosthetic arms.

In addition to AI and quantum computing, IBM received numerous patents for cloud computing and also one for blockchain.