LEGAL LANGUAGE SERVICES

Intellectual Property -- and the Brazilian Law

September 2000

Read this article in Portuguese here

Brazil has been an active player in the Industrial Property field for over a century, beginning in 1883 when it was among the original eleven countries that signed the Paris Convention treaty.  This was the earliest and most important multilateral treaty in the field of patents and intellectual property. As a developing country, Brazil today devotes a great deal of attention to information policies and to providing information on patents in order to foster technical innovation. 

The law that regulates patents, trademark, trade secret protection, licensing and technology transfers in Brazil changed in 1997, a year after the Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso signed a new law regulating intellectual property.  With the new law, the Brazilian Government aligned local legislation with international community standards, primarily by widening the field of subject matter that could be patented or trademarked. 

There are some basic steps a foreign applicant must follow to acquire a Brazilian patent. The country is part of the Patent Cooperation Treaty, which facilitates the process of getting a Brazilian patent. Patent applications must contain specifications, claim(s), a summary, drawings (if necessary) and items such as receipt of payments of fees due, initial petition, power of attorney, deed of inventor, and evidence of priority. Claims for priority must be backed up with valid documents from the country of origin, along with the appropriate translation. The term of patents of invention has increased from 15 to 20 years in Brazil. More information about filing procedures for industrial property rights can be obtained from The Brazilian Industrial Property Office Homepage. http://www.inpi.gov.br/ingles.htm