MEDIA & PUBLICATIONS

Although well received by the market, a Brazilian court’s decision ordering the Federal Government to transfer additional funds to the country’s patent office (INPI) did not receive the expected response from the agency itself. “The INPI does not have the capacity to execute (spend) more than US$ 24 million per year,” said its president, Julio Cesar Moreira, referring to the institution’s current budget.

In other words, even with more resources available, the INPI would not be able to use them immediately. To do so, it would first need to resolve legal issues (public servant hiring laws) and infrastructure problems (IT systems).

These issues have long affected key performance indicators at INPI including, crucially, the patent examination backlog. According to a study by the Licks Attorneys, more than 72,000 patent applications are currently awaiting a decision (see Figure one).

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