Latin America: Understanding its patent systems and documentation
Information
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Part I: Brazil
Brazil, the fifth-largest country in the world, has one of Latin America’s most important intellectual property (IP) systems. Its patent framework is administered by the Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial (INPI) and has evolved significantly since the country first introduced patent rights in 1809.
Patent law and international framework
Brazil has been a member of the Paris Convention since 1884, joined WIPO in 1975, and became a Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) member in 1978. The current legal framework is mainly governed by the Industrial Property Law (Law No. 9,279/1996), which brought the country in line with Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) obligations.
Types of protection
Patents – 20 years from filing (minimum of 10 years from grant)
Utility Models – 15 years from filing (minimum of 7 years from grant)
Certificates of Addition – linked to the parent patent, with the same term of protection
Filing and examination
Applications must be filed in Portuguese, and provisional filings are possible. Brazil applies an absolute novelty standard but allows a 12-month grace period for prior disclosures. Patentability excludes, among others, business methods, schemes, and software “as such.”
Brazil follows a deferred examination system: applicants (or third parties) must request examination within three years of filing. Early publication and conversion between patents and utility models are possible.
Special features
Use requirement: Inventions must be exploited within three years of grant, or they may be subject to compulsory licensing
Annual fees: Due from the third year after filing, with a grace period for late payment
Third-party involvement: Observations and invalidation actions are possible both at INPI and in court
Pharmaceutical patents and ANVISA
Since 2001, pharmaceutical patents require approval from ANVISA (the National Health Surveillance Agency). As of 2017, ANVISA’s review is limited to assessing public health concerns rather than conducting a full patentability analysis.
Recent developments
Efforts have been made to reduce Brazil’s backlog, including:
Accelerated examination for applicants over 60, cases of infringement, or where funding depends on patent grant
Utilisation of PCT international search reports to speed up prosecution
Patent information
Patent documents can be searched via Espacenet, which includes details on all publication stages, original documents and legal event data.
Image 1: Bibliographic data including links to the original documents in Espacenet
Image 2: Brazilian patent documentation: number formats
Keywords: Patent information, Brazilian patent documentation, Patent law, searching
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