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The Brazilian Supreme Court handed down a landmark IP decision in 2021, finding that a legal provision which previously guaranteed patent owners at least 10 years’ protection from the point of grant was unconstitutional. This resulted in more than 3,000 pharmaceutical patents having their terms shortened.

The ruling, which was handed down in relation to Constitutional Challenge (ADI #5,529), has raised several important further questions that are still being answered 30 months after the ruling. Disputes are still raging, for example, over whether the pharmaceutical patents that had their terms shortened as a result of the decision can qualify for patent term adjustments by other means. And battles are also being fought over whether those patents can be enforced for the period prior to the Supreme Court ruling in 2021.

This second question was addressed most recently, when Supreme Court Justice Luiz Fux rendered a decision in another Constitutional Complaint - #29,091 - clarifying the scope of ADI #5,529 in relation to the enforcement of pharmaceutical patents whose terms were reduced to 20 years from filing.

Read the full article at: IAM