Bill #2334/19 authorizes the signature of covenants or partnerships between the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BRPTO) and public or private entities. The text seeks to alter the Brazilian IP Statute(9.279/96), which also refers to the authority’s competences.  

The proposal suggests including the following sections to Article 239 of the Brazilian IP Statute:  

“Art. 239 …  

IV – Sign covenants and partnerships with civil society organizations and public institutions focused on capacitation and training to provide support, assistance and guidance to interested parties when requesting the patent registration;  

V – Sign covenants and partnerships with civil society organizations and public institutions destined to the realization of actions prior to technical patent registration decisions”.  

The proposal is under examination by Congress. Congressman Marcos Pereira (PRB-SP), affirmed that the patent registration process in Brazil, currently under the exclusive responsibility of the BRPTO, has been criticized mainly due to its backlog – eleven years in average.  

“With this proposal, the objective is to allow the BRPTO to sign covenants and partnerships, either to decentralize its activities or to train professionals who can help in the task of granting registration”, affirmed the Congressman.  

With regards to decentralization, the proposal refers to the good results attained by other countries, like Japan, where companies linked to the patent organization, and the recruitment of temporary professionals enabled the backlog’s reduction by more than 50%.  

As for the training of professionals, close to 50% of demands include mistakes that slows down the process even more, so it is valid to consider the possibility of the BRPTO training also other stakeholders to provide guidance for the filing of applications with less mistakes, hence accelerating the registration grant.  

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