passionate samba brazil
The name of Brazil is said to come from a kind of mahogany, Brazilian mahogany, which is produced in the tropical rainforest of Brazil. The tropical rainforest has brought Brazil a wealth of cash crops, mineral resources, water resources, and sufficient labor. The deep red dye produced by Brazilian mahogany led to the first wave of commercial development in Brazil's history. So far, Brazil has become the country with the largest GDP in South America and the sixth in the world. In the history of Brazil, there have been several waves of immigration. The immigrants from Portugal, Africa, Germany, Italy, Japan, Syria, Lebanon, China and Southeast Asia have created Brazil's multi-ethnic characteristics, which are different from the rest of the world in music, dance, sports and other fields. Good performance in other places, especially football, since the first time it participated in the World Cup in 1930, it has never fallen behind in any session, and has won 5 championships.
Brazil is the first country in the world to sign a strategic partnership with China. Brazil stands out in the 21st century as one of the BRIC countries because of its rich agricultural, mineral and energy resources, diversified economy and infrastructure, low inflation, sound currency mechanism and strong and stable economy. Since 2018, Brazil has become the number one emerging sales market for global medical device manufacturers. In 2009, China replaced the United States as Brazil's largest trading partner and continues to be the primary focus market for Brazilian exporters. China exports a large amount of machinery and equipment, computer and communication technology equipment, instruments and meters, textiles, steel, organic chemicals and other products to Brazil. In 2020, the trade volume between the two countries reached US$119.04 billion, a record high. Based on the "Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement" signed between the two countries in the 1980s, China and Brazil have successfully launched 5 earth resource satellites in the space field, which has become a model of high-tech cooperation between the two countries. Brazil's wealth of wind, solar, hydropower and biotech skills could help China build a new global energy landscape. As the largest economy in Latin America, Brazil is currently undergoing unprecedented infrastructure construction. By 2021, more than 200 Chinese-funded enterprises have entered Brazil, and they will step up their efforts in manufacturing, high-tech industries, infrastructure industries, and service industries. In the next 10 years, China will also have new growth points for cooperation with Brazil in fields such as agricultural science, climate science, energy technology, and nanotechnology.
Although Brazil is the fourth country in the world to establish a patent system, in the patent field, Brazilian patents have always left Chinese applicants scratching their heads. It is rumored that an agency submitted an application to Brazil. It has been 10 years, and the Brazilian National Institute of Industrial Property has not even issued the first office action. Since then, it has become a common sense in the industry that Brazilian patent examinations are slow. However, Brazil's patent examination has made great progress in recent years. Today we will take a look at Brazil's patent system.
Introduction to the Brazilian Patent System
1. Paths for Chinese applicants to apply for patents in Brazil
Paris Convention, via Nationalization of PCT to enter the Brazilian national phase, direct application.
2. review unit
The Brazilian National Institute of Industrial Property, INPI, was established in 1970 and is affiliated to the Brazilian Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services. It has a total of 975 employees and is responsible for patents, trademarks, technology transfer, industrial designs, geographical indications, software copyrights and integrated circuit layout designs. register.
3. submit application
(1) Time limit requirements: INPI does not accept priority recovery, the Paris route must be within 12 months, and the PCT application must enter the Brazilian national phase within 30 months.
(2) Submitting the application: Electronic submission can be made through the PagTesouro system, or paper application can be submitted directly or by mail to the INPI headquarters or capital offices.
(3) Filing Language: Portuguese. If the application documents are in a foreign language, at least the Portuguese translation of the Claim must be submitted when filing the application, and the Portuguese translation of other parts can be submitted within 2 months from the filing date of the application.
4. formal review
INPI conducts formality examination of patent applications ex officio.
5. Public
Patent applications are published in the Industrial Intellectual Property Gazette 18 months from the filing date/priority date, and applicants may request earlier publication. Patent applications that are revoked or abandoned will be compulsorily published.
6. Review and Authorization
Anyone can submit a request for substantive examination within 36 months from the date of application. Although there is no clear law in Brazil to show that there is a pre-grant opposition system, INPI will still consider the public comments received here. Patents that meet the granted requirements can be authorized after examination. If a legitimate interest party raises an objection within the 6-month publicity period after granted, the applicant must respond within 60 days.
7. Accelerated review
As of September 1, 2020, INPI has launched 16 priority review procedures, including 14 for the general public and 2 for public institutions. For patent applications enjoying priority examination, the examination period (calculated from the filing date) has been accelerated to 13.1 months. Here, we mainly introduce the following types for you:
1) Green patents: Involving environmental protection or sustainable development technology fields, if the total number of Claim does not exceed 15, and the number of independent Claim does not exceed 3, patent applications that have been published but have not undergone substantive examination may require priority examination of green patents. The review period under the project has now been shortened to 14 months;
2) Applicants who are mentally disabled or seriously ill, or senior applicants over the age of 60, can obtain priority review qualifications after providing corresponding identity certificates;
3) If the patent application is reproduced by a third party without the permission of the applicant, and therefore there is potential infringement, priority examination may be requested;
4) Green channel review procedure: For patent applications funded by Brazilian official agencies or funds, obtaining a patent is a condition for obtaining financial support from national credit institutions or investment funds, and may request green channel priority review;
5) Patent applications related to public health and medical treatment, such as Chagas disease, dengue fever, dengue hemorrhagic fever, schistosomiasis, leprosy, leishmaniasis, malaria, tuberculosis and other diseases, such as focusing on the treatment and/prevention of Priority review may be requested for patent applications for products, pharmaceutical processes, equipment, materials, and applications of equipment for neglected diseases;
6) Treatment involving COVID-19, including instruments for medical examinations, surgical instruments, ventilators, drug delivery equipment, medical preparations, methods or equipment for product disinfection, methods or equipment for air sterilization, compounds or Specific therapeutic activity of medical preparations, personal protective equipment, etc., can all enjoy priority review. It should be pointed out that Brazil abolished on August 26, 2021, the system in which patents related to drugs and methods required prior approval by the Brazilian National Health Supervision Bureau, so that patents related to drugs and methods will no longer undergo double examination.
7) Patent Prosecution Highway PPH: INPI has signed PPH agreements with JPO, USPTO, EPO, CNIPA, UKIPO and DKPTO respectively, allowing rapid patent examination in the corresponding related technical fields. The fields of PPH examination conducted by China Patent Office and INPI are: information technology, packaging, measurement technology or chemistry (except pharmaceuticals).
8) SMEs/Start-ups: From 30 July 2021, start-ups will get faster patent examination.
Other priority examination items are: accelerated examination channel for small (EPP) and micro (ME) enterprises; patents related to wireless communication; patents related to information and communication technology; patent applications belonging to science, technology and innovation institutions (INPI in the international phase Issuing opinions in the capacity of ISA or IPEA); patent applications for technologies available in the Brazilian market (pilot project, limited to 400 applications per year); granted patent applications of the same family in the United States, Europe, Japan, and China (with accelerated examination fees).
Through a series of operations to reduce the backlog of patent applications, by 2021, INPI has reduced pending patent applications by more than 60%, and the current average patent grant time has been reduced to 5.8 years.
Advantages of Brazilian patent application
1. Brazil has a sound intellectual property protection system. The administrative law enforcement departments for intellectual property protection mainly include the Brazilian Customs and Police Department. There is a national consensus on intellectual property protection, and there is an interdepartmental "National Committee to Combat Piracy and Stop Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights".
2. The Brazilian National Health Supervision Agency (ANVISA)’s prior approval system for patent applications related to drugs and methods will be officially abolished on August 26, 2021. The Brazilian National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) has received more than 1,000 patent applications from ANVISA and be reviewed directly.
3. The Brazilian court system is fair and efficient, IP litigation is satisfactory and injunctions, including pre-litigation injunctions, are generally available.
Friendliness to Chinese applicants:
★★★★
Gold content of patent rights:
★★★
The degree of perfection of the rights protection mechanism:
★★★★
