The Kellis IP Weekly: Issue 2.3
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 police officers from 26 states as well as the Federal District, and reinforced the need for interagency cooperation to efficiently fight against piracy and smuggling. Attendees also received training on investigative techniques and shared best practices for confronting IP crimes.
Partnerships: Recognizing that IP crimes often have an international component, CNCP focused on strengthening international partnerships in 2024. To that end, the agency entered into partnerships with Denmark (resulting in delegations from each country visiting the other to exchange information, experience, and best practices); the EU's IPKey project (resulting in the production of a video about the dangers of piracy, which reached 320,000 views); the China State Administration for Market Regulation (resulting in negotiations for a formal MOU that will cover the sharing of information about dangerous and defective products and create a direct communication channel between regulatory agencies in Brazil and China); and the National Anti-Counterfeiting Committee of France (resulting in an MOU that establishes an agenda for cooperation on areas such as exchange of strategic information, technical capacity-building, and development of public policies that strengthen IP protections in both countries).
Conferences: CNCP participated in conferenced organized by WIPO and Interpol, resulting in the implementation of new guidelines that align enforcement practices in Brazil with international standards. CNCP also participated in two meetings of the Digital Piracy Working Group, in London and Bogotá, which focused on investigative techniques for digital piracy and the role of interagency cooperation in fighting such crimes.
Anti-Counterfeiting Directories: CNCP improved the National Directory to Combat Trademark Counterfeiting by making contact information for representatives of all trademarks listed in the directory available to the public. Additionally, CNCP launched the National Directory to Combat the Counterfeiting of Geographical Indications, which further strengthens Brazil's efforts to use geographical indications to increase the value of Brazilian goods in the international marketplace.
Capacity Building and Public Awareness: CNCP's partnership with Interpol resulted in the courses of the International IP Crime Investigators College being made available to all civil police in Brazil who work on IP crimes. Additionally, CNCP undertook public awareness campaigns focused around Children's Day, nutrition supplements, and chemical products.
Looking forward: In 2025, CNCP plans to focus on revising and modernizing relevant legislation, improving the structure of CNCP, intensifying enforcement activity, developing advanced technologies for identifying counterfeit products, improving national and international interagency cooperation, and delivering more public awareness campaigns directed to the general public.
Observation: While CNCP's efforts to combat IP crime should be celebrated, the agency appears to be under constant pressure to focus on smuggling, contraband, and regulatory violations that have little if anything to do with IP. This pressure is not surprising given that CNCP falls within the National Consumer Secretariat, the focus of which is consumer protection. Even so, given the scarce resources available to combat IP crimes, any use of those resources to go after non-IP crimes necessarily weakens enforcement against IP crimes. Stakeholders should be attentive to this possibility and use their influence to push for a purer focus on the mission for which CNCP was created: to combat piracy and other IP-related crimes.
Read more: https://www.gov.br/mj/pt-br/assuntos/noticias/conselheiros-aprovam-acoes-do-cncp-em-2024-e-alinham-estrategias-para-2025/RELATORIOCNCP20243.pdf; https://www.gov.br/mj/pt-br/assuntos/noticias/conselheiros-aprovam-acoes-do-cncp-em-2024-e-alinham-estrategias-para-2025
In Brief:
In January, average patent pendency at INPI remained at 4.3 yrs from filing and 3.1 years from the request from examination; fast-track applications averaged 10.5 months to a final decision; and average trademark pendency reached 18.1 months without opposition and 27.9 months with opposition. Notably, INPI appears to have secured a significant budget increase for 2025, up to R$ 82 million. https://www.gov.br/inpi/pt-br/governanca/planejamento-estrategico/central-de-monitoramento
The National Council to Combat Piracy (CNCP) presented the National Award for Combatting Piracy to 23 individuals, including Júlio Cesar Moreira, president of INPI, and Alesandro Gonçalves Barreto, the father of Operation 404. https://www.gov.br/mj/pt-br/assuntos/noticias/governo-federal-premia-destaques-na-defesa-da-propriedade-intelectual-e-no-combate-a-pirataria
A study conducted by the National Confederation of Industry (CNI) found that 19% of respondent companies perceived that digital commerce resulted in a significant increase in the sale of pirated or counterfeit products; 32 percent perceived an increase in such sales. The study also found that 31% of respondents have perceived an increase in the sale of pirated or counterfeit products (in both physical and digital markets) over the last three years, and that 11% had seen their own products pirated or counterfeited during the last twelve months. https://static.portaldaindustria.com.br/media/filer_public/c9/b7/c9b7a39c-14d4-4c19-aff8-eca58643b634/apresentacao_-_gt_brasil_legal.pdf
The JOTA platform launched a new column on IP and Innovation in Brazil with an article that explains Brazil's separate treatment of industrial and intellectual property and discusses the importance of IP protection. https://www.jota.info/opiniao-e-analise/colunas/propriedade-intelectual-inovacao/de-olho-na-caixa-de-ferramentas-da-pi-estrategia-e-fomento-a-inovacao
Bosch will finalize a deal today to receive public funding from BNDES and Finep for research, development, and innovation in the areas of sustainable mobility, smart agriculture, industry 4.0 and digitalization. https://www.gov.br/mdic/pt-br/assuntos/noticias/2025/fevereiro/alckmin-participa-de-cerimonia-em-campinas-para-assinatura-de-contratos-de-fomentos-publicos-entre-bosch-finep-e-bndes
UPCOMING IP EVENTS
February 20-21, 2025: AIPPI Midterm Meeting. Zagreb, Croatia. https://www.aippi.org/event/2025-aippi-midterm-meeting/ (English).
March 17-19, 2025: XXIV ASPI Intellectual Property Congress. Sao Paulo, Brazil. https://congresso.aspi.org.br/ (Portuguese).
March 20-23, 2025: XX ABAPISUL Regional Meeting. Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil. https://abapi2.org.br/ (Portuguese).
^May 17-21, 2025: INTA 2025 Annual Meeting. San Diego, CA, USA. https://www.inta.org/events/2025-annual-meeting/ (English).
June 8-10, 2025: ASIPI El Salvador Seminar. El Salvador. https://asipi.org/event/seminario-el-salvador-2025/ (Spanish).
August 17-19, 2025: ABPI Annual Congress. São Paulo, Brazil. https://abpi.org.br/eventos-abpi/ (Portuguese).
September 13-16, 2025: 2025 AIPPI World Congress. Yokohama, Japan. https://www.aippi.org/event/2025-aippi-world-congress/ (English).
^October 30-November 1, 2025: AIPLA Annual Meeting. Washington, D.C. https://www.aipla.org/detail/event/2025/10/30/default-calendar/aipla-2025-annual-meeting (English).
November 30-December 3, 2025: XXIII ASIPI Congress - Buenos Aires, Argentina. https://asipi.org/event/xxiii-congreso-asipi-buenos-aires-2025/ (Spanish).
* Indicates events at which I will be speaking.
^ Indicates events I will be attending.
QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS
Kellis IP is available to provide consulting services to help you understand and respond to any of the developments highlighted in this newsletter, or any other IP issues in Brazil and the surrounding region.
