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20 December 2019PatentsSarah Morgan

IP chief rules out Brazil office ‘extinction’

Claudio Furtado, president of the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (INPI), has ruled out the possibility of the office becoming extinct under a controversial merger plan.

In an internal technical note, issued earlier this month, the Brazilian Ministry of Economy suggested the merger of INPI with the Brazilian Industrial Development Agency (ABDI), creating the Brazilian Agency for Development and Industrial Property (ABDPI) and enabling financial autonomy from the government.

The move prompted consternation from unions and associations, including RJ Sindisep, a trade union for public servants in Rio de Janeiro, the Association of Federal Judges of Brazil (Ajufe) and the Association of Federal Judges of Rio de Janeiro and Espirito Santo (Ajuferjes).

RJ Sindisep expressed its “indignation” at the attempts of the federal government to privatise INPI’s activities, while outlining its budgetary concerns.

"Forget about the idea of ​​extinction of INPI," Furtado said, during a joint holiday lunch with Associação Brasileira dos Agentes da Propriedade Industrial (ABAPI) and the Brazilian Association of Intellectual Property (ABPI) last week in Rio de Janeiro.

The statement was issued by the ABPI yesterday, December 19.

“We were surprised by the release of this technical note, because the extinction of the INPI would be a contradiction to what we are doing to improve services, such as fighting backlog and our adherence to the Madrid Protocol,” said Furtado.

In July, Brazil acceded to the Madrid System, which is administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The system came into force in October.

For Furtado, the main objective for the merger plans is to release INPI from its governmental obligations.

According to the ABPI, with the change of its legal nature, the agency could gain financial autonomy over its own budget to outsource activities, implement new systems and hire examiners.

“The Ministry of Economy wants INPI to have financial autonomy," said INPI’s president, adding that, with estimated revenues of R$530 million ($130 million) for 2020, INPI could increase its investment in new projects.

To fund the budget for 2020, explained the president of INPI, the agency would need to expand its discretionary expenses from the current R$51 million to R$72 million, which, by current rules, could only be done through parliamentary amendment.

Yesterday, WIPR reported on the backlash to the proposals.

The government’s proposal states that the merger would help reduce public costs, as several positions (such as public trust positions) would be extinguished and other positions that would become vacant due to retirement would also be removed.

However, RJ Sindisep argued 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.

ABAPI, ABPI and the Associação Paulista da Propriedade Intelectual (ASPI) backed the proposal of strengthening INPI through the entity's effective administrative and financial autonomy.

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.”

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Patents
19 December 2019   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.