Introduction of INPI

Created in 1970, the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) is a federal autarchylinked to the Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services, responsible for the improvement, dissemination and management of the Brazilian system of industrialproperty. INPI’s duties include:

1. Trademarksregistration

2. Patentgrants

3. Technology Transfer and Franchising Contracts registration

4. Industrial Designsregistration

5. GeographicalIndicationsregistration

6. Software registration

7. TopographyofIntegratedCircuitsregistration

The legislation that regulates the Industrial Property in Brazil is the Industrial Property Law 9,279 of 1996, the Software Law 9,609 of 1998 and the Law 11,484 of 2007 related to Topography of Integrated Circuits. By the end of 2016, INPI had 975 employees.

THE SERVICES OF INPI

Trademarks

The registration at INPI guarantees accessing legal protection in Brazil for trademarks. Once granted, a trademark registration remains in force for ten years and this period can be extended for successive equal periods indefinitely, as long as there is an interest in maintaining the trademark ownership.

Only individuals or enterprises performing lawfully and effectively an activity compatible with the product or service intended by the trademark registration can have such register granted. Regarding foreign applicants, it is necessary to have a Foreign Personal Representative established in Brazil.

In Brazil, the first to file an application defined who has the right to the registration, excluding the exceptions mentioned in the Law. In that sense a previous search at INPI’s database, although not mandatory, is important to the success of the application. Regarding its nature, the trademark can be defined as a product, a service, a certification or a collective mark. Concerning the form, they can be nominative, mixed, figurative or three-dimensional.

Patents

During the patent’s term, its title owner has the right to exclude third-party actions related to the protected subject such as manufacture, commercialization, use and others. To protect an invention through patenting means to prevent its unauthorized exploitation by competitors who were not involved in nor bore the invention’s research.The term of the protection is 20 years.

In Brazil, a Patent Application is kept secret from its filing date (or earlier priority used as reference) until the end of an 18-month period, when the application is published at our Industrial Property Gazette (often referred to as RPI).For the application to be examined by a Patent Examiner, it is necessary to file an examination request and collect the respective fees.

Other registers:

Registration of licensing of Industrial Property, Technology Transfer and Franchising Contracts

INPI shall register the contracts involving technology transfer, franchising and licensing of industrial property rights (patent, industrial design and trademark), according to the Brazilian Law.The contractual arrangements registered at INPI are licensing of patents, industrial designs and trademarks, acquisition of technology, technical assistance services and franchising.The effect of the registered contracts at INPI is: a) fiscal deduction; b) payment abroad related to the royalties; c) effective with regard to third parties.

Industrial Designs

The registration of Industrial Designs protects the external ornamental shape of an object or the set of lines and colors applied to a product, as long as it presents a new and original result and is suitable for industrial production. The registration of Industrial Designs does not protect functionalities, dimensions, materials or the manufactured processes of an object.

The initial term of the protection is 10 years, which can be extended for up to 3 periods of five years, totalizing a maximum of 25 years. For such, beside the initial registration fees, a five-year extension fees must be met from the tenth year onwards.

Geographical Indications

A Geographical Indication is an Industrial Property asset characterized by the identification of a product or service related to the place, region or country of origin, where such a region has a reputation related to the product or service and/or the region is positively affected by specific regional characteristics, like natural factors (terroir) and/or the traditional expertise of this location.

The current regulation on geographical indication does not establish a fixed term to this form of protection, which is valid as long as legal conditions are met, and it guarantees right to the exclusive use of the geographical name to the products established in a specific place represented by an association or legal entity representative of the community. The current framework comprises two kinds of geographical indications, namely: Indication of Source (products or services in which the geographical region became known as a production center for such products and services) and Appellation of Origin (when natural factors and traditional expertise in the geographical region guarantees certain characteristics or qualities to the product or service). For both it is possible to request a nominative, graphic or mixed (graphic and nominative) registration.

An Indication of Source is used for. An Appellation of Origin is used produced inside of its borders.

Software

Software in Brazil is protected by copyright as they are considered a literary work. This protection covers the literal aspects of the software, which is to say, its source or object code. In Brazil, Software Registration is optional since the intellectual right emerges from the work itself. Unlike other countries that use only copyright law to protect software, in Brazil there is a specific act on the protection of software, known as the Software Act. The term for Software protection in Brazil is 50 years as from January 1st of the subsequent year of the creation or publication of the program. Software can be kept in secret and only be disclosed by court order or by request of the owner of such right.

Topography of Integrated Circuits

The protection of topography of integrated circuits is a matter foreseen by the Law 11,484 of May 31st 2007. When filing an application, images of the topography are required. Those can be presented by the means of drawings, photographs and in optical digital media, as long as it allows for the exact identification and characterization of the integrated system’s originality. The term of such right is 10 years from the filing date or the date of the first economic exploitation of the topography in Brazil or abroad, whichever happens first.