Carnival inevitably means a slowdown in non-leisure activities, and the IP front is no exception. After last week’s Carnival celebrations, recent developments can be adequately highlighted through the In Brief format, as you will see below.

Additionally, in light of some upcoming changes, this will be the last issue of the Kellis IP Weekly—at least for now. Many thanks and best wishes to all who followed along.

In Brief:

• The USPTO's new Rio-based IP Attaché, Cairo Jennings, met with INPI President Júlio César Moreira and all INPI directors.  During the meeting, President Moreira reiterated INPI's commitment to working together with USPTO, and opportunities for future cooperation were discussed.  https://www.gov.br/inpi/pt-br/central-de-conteudo/noticias/inpi-recebe-visita-do-novo-adido-de-pi-do-escritorio-americano-de-patentes-e-marcas

•  INPI launched the sixth guide to intellectual property for businesses under a partnership with the IP Office of Singapore.  https://www.gov.br/inpi/pt-br/central-de-conteudo/noticias/inpi-lanca-sexto-guia-da-serie-de-propriedade-intelectual-para-negocios

Carnival and Copyright:  With Carnival just around the corner, Brazil's collective management agency, Ecad, has been working to ensure the proper payment of copyright royalties over the course of the holiday, with its many public celebrations.  Here is where things stand: . . .

Click below to continue reading.

CNCP Releases 2024 Annual Report:  The National Council to Combat Piracy highlighted 17 "principal actions and activities" of 2024 in the report, including:

• First Meeting with Civil Police on Piracy and Contraband:  The event was attended by . . .

Click below to continue reading.

GIPI Revises National IP Strategy Action Plan:  In the final year of the 2023-2025 Action Plan, GIPI has taken the unprecedented step of significantly revising that plan. Changes fall into several categories, described below.

Click below to continue reading.

EUIPO's IPKey Releases Study on Economic Impact of IP in Brazil:  Brazilian policymakers and policy advocates no longer need to rely on inferences from the EUIPO's January 2022 study on the economic impact of IP in Latin America--which focused on countries other than Brazil--to demonstrate the importance of IP in Brazil, following the release of a Brazil-specific study.

• Findings:  The Brazil study confirms that Brazil follows the same patterns found in other countries:  IP-intensive sectors employ 39.7% of the total Brazilian workforce, yet account for 50.2% of GDP, 64% of exports, and 84% of imports.  Additionally, jobs in these sectors offer pay that is, on average, 4.9% higher than pay in non-IP-intensive sectors.

• Trends:  The study also looked at how these data are changing over time, and found that from 2011 to 2022 (the last year included in the study), employment attributable to IP-intensive sectors . . .

Click below to continue reading.

ABIFINA Publishes Interview with GIPI President Andrea Macera:  Ms. Macera is also the Secretary of Competitiveness and Regulatory Policy at MDIC.  She spoke with ABIFINA about Brazil's National IP Strategy and GIPI's efforts vis-à-vis that policy.  Here are some notable quotes from the interview:

• On the Next Biannual Action Plan:  "For the next [National IP Strategy] Action Plan, which will be drawn up in the first half of 2025 and will come into force in the second half of the year, . . .

INPI Releases October-December Performance Numbers:  The numbers continue to show that applications in the biotechnology and telecommunications fields have the highest pendency.

• Average Patent Pendency from Request for Examination:  Applications in the polymers and related technologies art unit received a technical decision within . . .

What's up at GIPI?  Since the Lula administration took office, the Interministerial Group on Intellectual Property has become increasingly opaque, a trend that accelerated in 2024.

• Indicators:  In the last six months of 2024, GIPI issued just 3 press releases on the “News” section of its website. For purposes of comparison, here are the number of press releases issued by GIPI since the second half of 2021 (the last period prior to the Lula administration taking office):

INPI Releases 2024 Numbers: Much attention has been paid to INPI’s efforts to reduce patent pendency (and willingness to allow trademark pendency to creep up), but what about filing numbers? That data has now been released.

• The Good:

  • Trademark filings continued to rise at INPI, reaching 444,037 applications filed--10.3% more than in 2023. 

What to Expect from INPI in 2025: After a year that included hiring new employees for the first time in seven years, reducing patent pendency, accepting slogans for trademark registration, and other developments, 2025 promises to bring more change at INPI.

Click below to read Volume 2025’s Issue 1.1.

Happy Holidays!

To all readers of the Kellis IP Weekly, happy holidays! May you find joy and peace as you celebrate this year, and best wishes for a happy and prosperous new year. We’ll be taking a break next week, which means this is the last issue of 2024. We hope to see you in 2025!

Click below to read Issue 12.3

EU-Mercosur Agreement (Again): Twenty-five years after negotiations commenced, and five years after completion of those negotiations was first announced, all chapters of the EU-Mercosur Agreement have now been finalized.  The agreement's text still needs to be cleaned up, after which France and Poland will try to block ratification by EU member states and the European parliament.

• Copyright in focus: MDIC announced that when resumptions over the agreement recommenced in 2023, Brazil used the opportunity to add additional provisions regarding copyright to the document. While those provisions were not specifically identified, the IP chapter of the agreement contains extensive provisions regarding copyright, including

Click below to read Issue 12.2

Beginning with this issue, readers of the Kellis IP Weekly will begin to see major changes to the newsletter, as we seek a format that provides, as succintly as possible, more focused reporting on the most important recent developments regarding intellectual property in Brazil. Whether you like the changes or not, please send us your feedback so that we can deliver a product that you find useful and worth reading.

Click below to read Issue 12.1.