Category Latin America/Caribbean

Brazilian Superior Court Of Justice Stops Patent Term Extension Attempts

Pedro Marcos Nunes Barbosa writes: In April 2018, the Brazilian Superior Court of Justice (STJ) ruled on a controversial patent term extension scheme, for the third time since Brazil adopted TRIPS compliant legislation in 1996. The first ruling on this topic, upheld by the STJ, was decided, unanimously, in the year 2009 (docket REsp 960.728, Justice Andrighi). In that case, a famous agrochemical multinational company sought an exotic interpretation of the impacts brought by the minimum deadline granted to a patent, since the WTO’s annex treaty imposed the uniform extension of 20 years. In other words, although the agrochemical company had obtained its exclusivity right in a pre-TRIPS context (where Brazilian Law guaranteed a 15 years property right), but unsatisfied, after the Agreement was implemented, the plaintiff requested a judicial pass for a five year extra period of competition absence.

How International IP Policy Reconfigured National Politics: An Interview With Prof. Ken Shadlen

The recently published book Coalitions and Compliance by Professor Ken Shadlen of the London School of Economics examines how international changes can reconfigure domestic politics. Since the late 1980s, developing countries have been subject to intense pressures regarding intellectual property rights. These pressures have been exceptionally controversial in the area of pharmaceuticals. Historically, fearing the economic and social costs of providing private property rights over knowledge, developing countries did not allow drugs to be patented. Now they must do so, an obligation with significant implications for industrial development and public health. This book analyses different forms of compliance with this new imperative in Latin America, comparing the politics of pharmaceutical patenting in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. The book focuses on two periods of patent politics: initial conflicts over how to introduce drug patents, and then subsequent conflicts over how these new patent systems function. Intellectual Property Watch recently conducted a Q&A with Prof. Shadlen, which appears below.

Fierce Fake News Regulation Rising From Fear Of Election Manipulation

The globally creeping fear of fake news in the wake of elections resulted in another harsh legislative proposal adopted by the Brazilian “Tribunal Superior Eleitoral” (TSE) earlier this week in Brasilia. The globally creeping fear of fake news in the wake of elections resulted in another harsh legislative proposal adopted by the Brazilian “Tribunal Superior Eleitoral” (TSE) earlier this week in Brasilia. The resolution lays out measures on how content must be removed upon notice in 24 hours by platform providers, a Brazilian activist said during one of the many debates on fake news and potential measures against it at the 12th Internet Governance Forum taking place this week in Geneva.

Intellectual Property Rights In Trade – To Be Rethought?

After two decades of intellectual property regimes in trade agreements, one could have some second thoughts, according to a number of panellists at the Trade and Sustainable Development Symposium, organised by the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) and held alongside the 11th World Trade Organization Ministerial in Buenos Aires, Argentina this week.

EU-MERCOSUR FTA Puts At Risk Access To Medicines In Brazil, New Impact Assessment Study Finds

The European Union (EU) is currently negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA) with the four founding members of Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay), which comprises a chapter on intellectual property rights (IPR). A new round of negotiations is taking place from November 29th to December 8th in Brussels[1]. Word is that they aim to announce the closure of the agreement at the next World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference that will be held from 10-13 of December in Buenos Aires and the clock is ticking to close all the chapters before that. The authors have conducted a study that shows the adoption of the measures proposed by the EU could put the sustainability of access to health policies in Brazil at risk, as they could sharply increase public expenditures on medicines.

Tribute To An IP Community Influencer Brings Together IP Experts In Geneva

Inspiring, generous, humanist, nobody was short of praise and anecdotes at an event last week to celebrate the lifelong contribution of Pedro Roffe, well-known Geneva thinker and writer on intellectual property. A conference on the evolution of intellectual property, trade and development had been organised for the occasion, congregating many IP experts offering their perspective on the role of IP in fields, such as public health, innovation policy, and competition law.