Bill #32/2026 aims to amend the Brazilian Patent Statute and the Fiscal Responsibility Law

Presented on February 20, Bill #32/2026, sponsored by Congresswoman Renata Abreu, was written in response to the lengthy examination time of a patent application filed by Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). The application (PI 0805852-0) protects a technology for the treatment of acute spinal cord injuries using a polyamine protein. The Bill proposes the following amendments:

i)               to the Brazilian Patent Statute – Law #9,279, of May 14, 1996 (BPS), creating a mechanism to adjust patent terms in the event of an administrative delay not attributable to the owner, for a maximum of five (5) years; and

(ii)            to the Fiscal Responsibility Law – Complementary Law #101, of May 4, 2000 (FRL), (a) prohibiting the limitation of commitment and financial movement of certain expenses related to the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BRPTO) and expenses indispensable to the maintenance and protection of strategic intellectual property assets of public Scientific, Technological and Innovation Institutions, and (b) creating the National Fund for the Maintenance of Strategic Patents.

The aforementioned patent PI 0805852-0, mentioned in the Bill, was granted after more than 16 (sixteen) years pendency before the BPTO, which resulted in a period of full exercise of intellectual property rights for its owner – in this case, UFRJ – of less than 4 (four) years, reducing the economic asset’s value and impacting the expectation of generating future revenues in the Brazilian market. In addition, due to cuts in UFRJ's research funding, some international patent applications related to polyamine were rendered unfeasible, which impacts royalty revenue.

BPS: creation of a mechanism to adjust patent terms

Since the Brazilian Supreme Court’s ruling of ADI #5529 in 2021, every patent in Brazil is granted according to the provision of Article 40 of the BPS, with a term of protection of 20 (twenty) years, counted from the application’s filing date, regardless of how long the examination before the BRPTO lasted. Currently, Brazilian legislation does not have a mechanism that compensates a patent owner for any excessive and unjustified delay by the BRPTO during the prosecution of the application, which may result in the loss of a relevant part of the potential for economic exploitation of the protected technology.

In this context, Bill #32/2026 provides for the addition of Article 40-A to the BSP to correct a distortion caused by the State itself, acting through the BRPTO. The provision establishes a mechanism for adjusting patent terms, limited to 5 (five) years, in the event of a delay in the examination attributable exclusively to the Patent Office. The Article also provides that the administrative procedure for this, including calculation methodology and criteria, must be regulated by the BRPTO.

With more than 72 thousand patent applications pending examination, the proposed patent term adjustment mechanism mitigates the losses suffered by patentees due to the BPTO's backlog.

FRL: prohibitions on limitation of expenses and creation of strategic patent fund

Bill #32/2026 also intends to ensure a budgetary and administrative safeguard for the protection of strategic intellectual property assets developed by public Scientific, Technological, and Innovation Institutions, especially in the areas of health, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and technologies of interest to the Brazilian Public Healthcare System (SUS).

To this end, the Bill innovates by including in Article 9, paragraph 2, of the FRL a prohibition on the limitation of expenses related to the BRPTO, provided that they are “funded by its own revenues or legally linked to its institutional competences”, as well as expenses indispensable to the maintenance, protection, and defense of strategic intellectual property assets of public Scientific, Technological, and Innovation Institutions.

The Bill also creates an accounting fund to strengthen the protection of strategic intellectual property assets of public Scientific, Technological, and Innovation Institutions: the National Fund for the Maintenance of Strategic Patents (FNMPE), linked to the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation. The FNMPE will be financed by budget appropriations, donations, and agreements, in addition to part of the revenue obtained from the economic exploitation of these patents.

Next steps

The Bill is in progress in the Brazilian House of Representatives, pending the designation of a rapporteur. In addition, it will undergo analysis and eventual approval by thematic commissions, such as the Science and Technology Commission (CCT), according to the ordinary procedure applicable to bills of this type.

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