Brazil IP office ‘privatisation’ plan causes uproar
Associations in Brazil have criticised plans to merge the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (INPI) with a quasi-private organisation, enabling financial autonomy from the government.
RJ Sindisep, a trade union for public servants in Rio de Janeiro, sent a notice out on Tuesday, December 17, expressing their “indignation” at the attempts of the federal government to privatise INPI’s activities.
Earlier this month, the Brazilian Ministry of Economy issued an internal technical note, suggesting the merger of INPI with the Brazilian Industrial Development Agency (ABDI), creating the Brazilian Agency for Development and Industrial Property (ABDPI).
Joana de Mattos Siqueira, partner at Montaury Pimenta Machado & Vieira de Mello, said: “It is important to emphasise that it is not an extinction of INPI but a different and new institutional model.”
The Association of Federal Judges of Brazil (Ajufe) and the Association of Federal Judges of Rio de Janeiro and Espirito Santo (Ajuferjes) have also criticised the plans, stating that such a proposal runs counter to the experience of developed countries.
“If that were not enough, the measure would imply, within the scope of the justice system, alteration of the jurisdiction to prosecute cases involving the validity of intellectual property rights, which have been effectively judged by Federal judges and Federal regional courts…,” added the associations in a public notice.
Budgetary concerns
According to Luiza Duarte Pereira, partner at Murta Goyanes, the purpose of the merger would be to createa more efficient structure, allowing an improvement of the operational capacity of both the ABDI and INPI.
The proposal states that the merger would help reduce public costs, as several positions, such as public trust positions, would be extinguished. Other positions that would become vacant due to retirement would also be removed.
“However, it is worth mentioning that the extinction of INPI would not generate an immediate reduction of public costs since the INPI’s personnel would be redistributed to other public offices,” said Pereira.
Consequently, the expected primary saving would be related to discretionary expenses, estimated at R$52 million ($12.8 million).
The proposal would also cause a decrease in federal revenue, as INPI is a public federal office and its revenues are part of the public budget. By merging INPI with ABDI, which has a private budget, INPI’s revenues will no longer be part of the public budget, explained Pereira.
In its notice, RJ Sindisep said that the privatisation of INPI, contrary to the view taken by the government, will result in losses to the public coffers.
“This offers no guarantees that the funds raised will be invested in improving the intellectual property system, since, by joining the institute to another body, [the] funds can be directed to different purposes,” it said.
Three IP associations—the Associação Brasileira dos Agentes da Propriedade Industrial (ABAPI), the Brazilian Association of Intellectual Property (ABPI) and the Associação Paulista da Propriedade Intelectual (ASPI)—have also submitted their thoughts on the restructuring.
They said: “The associations argue that 100% of the resources received from system users, such as patent and patent filers, are applied to the grantor. It is worth remembering that the accumulated surplus over the years has been improperly used to pay the federal public debt.”
Overall, the associations back the proposal of strengthening INPI through the entity's effective administrative and financial autonomy.
“The associations recognise the efforts made by INPI in recent years to improve the services provided, but are aware of the need for large investments to definitively solve the historical and chronic problems of the institute,” the associations’ letter added.
A specialised agency
The judge associations, Ajufe and Ajuferjes, have also expressed concern over the impartiality implications of the merger.
“INPI has a highly specialised and acknowledged impartial staff of civil servants … There has been a fear of precariousness of these services if their duties are assumed by ABDPI, a private entity without the guarantees necessary for the adequate provision of this essential public service for the country,” they said.
The trade union added that the proposed financial autonomy idea came from INPI itself. However, RJ Sindisep stated that the office should be transformed into a specialised federal agency, remaining as a public body and using the resources it collects to hire more servers and strengthen its infrastructure.
“INPI could thus combat delays that plague Brazilian society. However, the government turned a proposal for strengthening the institute as a state organ, into an argument to privatise their activities,” it added.
WIPR has contacted INPI for comment.
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