PATENT VALUE
ADVANCES IN BRAZIL
BEST FOOT FORWARD: DEVELOPMENTS AT THE INPI
The Brazilian Patent and Trademark Offi ce has been struggling for quite some time to provide a better level of service, adequate to an important governmental body in a country whose economy has improved exponentially on the global stage. Marcelo de Oliveira Müller takes a look at recent developments.
Although at this point the examination of both patent and trademark rights can take years to reach a conclusion, changes have been occurring, especially with regard to trademarks, and it is with relief mixed with caution that we see the current administration at the Brazilian patent offi ce (INPI) taking several steps towards attempting to improve its services.
T e INPI has established task forces aiming at providing faster results and has been adopting practices more in line with international trends, which seems to be a preparation for possibly joining the Madrid Protocol at some point in the future.
We have seen the establishment of internal rules and practices that are geared towards results, an important step towards clearing the large backlog of pending applications, especially those subject to administrative disputes.
One of the fi rst important innovations implemented by the INPI was the creation of a new mediation proceeding, which works for disputes involving all and any IP rights, including trademark disputes, namely trademark oppositions, appeals and administrative nullity actions. T is procedure has been developed in conjunction with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). T e INPI
began off ering seminars on the subject in July 2012, and a Memorandum of Understanding was signed with WIPO on September 12, 2012. In April 2013, the INPI issued Resolution no. 084/2013, which institutes mediation procedures and Normative Act 23/2013, which provides for trademark mediation regulations.
Parties involved in a trademark dispute before the INPI that are interested in mediation must voluntarily choose
this path, and during the
mediation period the INPI will suspend the ongoing administrative
procedure (pending
oppositions, appeals and administrative nullity actions) for a period of 90 days, which can be extended for another identical period if certain conditions are met.
It is relevant to mention that the mediation proceedings will be handled by WIPO whenever at least one of the two parties is not a Brazilian resident. If both parties are residents of Brazil, then the mediation proceeding will be through the INPI. T e INPI is not a party to the mediation proceeding, merely administering the process. In the same way, the INPI’s examiners cannot act as mediators, and the INPI does not provide a mediator, which can be chosen from a list provided by WIPO.
T is new option is very recent, and the INPI has announced a programme to incentivise the
76 World Intellectual Property Review September/October 2013
use of mediation, consisting of refraining from charging offi cial fees for the fi rst 50 cases for which mediation is elected in the period from July 15, 2013 until the end of December 2013.
In April 2013, the INPI held a seminar during which it announced a series of innovations that it intends to put into practice in the near future, and some of the points touched upon are, in fact, already implemented or under clear development.
As a matter of fact, during this seminar the INPI provided a detailed report of what its goals are, and announced, among other improvements, its intention to reduce the trademark examination period to 18 months by January 2014, and to reduce the examination period to nine months by January 2015.
Moreover, it said that a new internal soſt ware system named IPAS will soon come into use, which
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