New Procedure at the Brazilian Patent Office for the Application of Article 32 of the Industrial Property Law

The Brazilian Patent Office (hereinafter only BPO) issued on 25th April 2008 a New Procedure specifically related to the application of Article 32 of the Brazilian Industrial Property Law (Brazilian IP Law).

This New Procedure aims to set an uniform ruling to the previous and different understandings which came into effect with the creation of the Opinion/PROC/DICONS/No.07/2002. This Opinion allowed to change the claims of a patent application even after the date of the patent examination request. In 2008, this Opinion was revoked by MEMO/INPI/DIRPA/No. 072/08, which established some limitations to the changes of the patent application.

With the New Procedure, the insertion of any change to the specification, claims, abstract and design (if any) may take place up to the filling of the patent examination request. This time frame limitation does not apply to correction of material errors. Thus, one may request the correction of such errors in all patent applications, at any stage, provided that the correction conforms to the subject matter previously disclosed.
Further to that, voluntary modifications or those derived from technical office actions may be accepted insofar as they restrict the patent claims.


This New Procedure has been criticized by academics and scholars, as Article 32 of the Brazilian IP Law has not provided an express rule restricting the alteration of the claims after the examination request. Moreover, the prior IP Law (Law 5,771/72) prohibited any alteration of the claims after the filing patent date. Therefore, the limitation of the New Procedure recalls the existed restriction on the prior law and it is regarded as a set back from the implementation of Article 32 of the Brazilian IP Law.

It has also been argued that the New Procedure does not match properly with those rules contained in the developed countries, such as that of Article 123 of the European Patent Convention.

It is worth mentioning that, although Article 32 of the Brazilian IP Law and the New Procedure permit the modification of the claims, the inclusion of any exceeded claims from those initially requested in the patent filing may be a justifying reason for patent nullity, as provided by in Item III of Article 50 of the Brazilian IP law. This means that changes to the patent application cannot exceed the subject matter disclosed in the original application.

It should be also highlighted that the New Procedure has only been used by the BPO’s examiners on new patent applications, as from 25th April 2008 and those pending for patent examination. Thus, technical opinions already issued regarding the patent examination are not affected in any way.

IDNs to be registrable in Argentina

NIC Argentina, the registry responsible for the .ar country-code top-level domain, launched the registration of internationalized domain names (IDNs) on 8 September 2008. While the Spanish language uses the Roman script, it also uses letters with special accents, such as the letter ñ. This has posed difficulties for computers which cannot process special language characters, such as the letter ‘ñ’ in domain names. The use of IDNs resolves this difficulty for domain names and means that users of .ar domains will be able to use their Spanish regular spellings.

The sunrise period for applications to register IDNs will last until 16 December 2008, with applications being considered from 17 December 2008 to 16 March 2009. NIC Argentina has not yet announced the date from which IDN registrations will be open to the public. In the event of more than one application for the same IDN, the allocation will be decided based on which registrant was first to register its qualifying domain name.

[source: David Taylor and Brechtje Lindeboom, Lovells LLP, Paris, writing in World Trademark Report].

México: Patente sobre tecnología para combustibles limpios

Recién nos hemos enterado que el Instituto Mexicano del Petróleo (IMP) ha desarrollado un material a base de nanotubos de óxido de titanio que elimina el nitrógeno y azufre contenidos en gasóleos y en combustibles.

La patente sobre éste material, que es una tecnología para combustibles limpios, ha sido concedida por las autoridades de los Estados Unidos.

El IMP destacó que la patente, “material adsorbente selectivo de compuestos nitrogenados y azufrados en fracciones de hidrocarburos del petróleo y procedimiento de aplicación”, es un claro ejemplo del uso de la nanotecnología para resolver problemas de contaminantes contenidos en los combustibles.

Con esta tecnología del IMP, Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) cuenta ahora con una ruta para apoyar sus procesos, proteger sus catalizadores.

Además de ésta patente el Instituto tiene en trámite otras patentes relacionadas con las estructuras y los nanotubos mismos y otra sobre el uso de los nanotubos como catalizador para ese mismo fin.

Tomando en cuenta la fuerte contaminación que provocan los combustibles, se agradece de sobrada manera que se investigue en ésta materia.

Exitosas acciones contra la piratería

Resulta grato saber que en los últimos meses se han ejecutado eficazmente diversos operativos contra la piratería y falsificación en México.

La Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) ha estado muy activa persiguiendo y deteniendo a los implicados en diversos delitos contra los derechos de autor y la propiedad industrial.

Entre estos exitosos operativos encontramos el efectuado contra una red de ”Clonadores” de televisores de plasma, otro contra falsificadores de sillas, y, de especial relevancia, dos importantes decomisos de objetos apócrifos y videogramas, fonogramas y portadillas apócrifas en el conocido barrio de Tepito.

Esperamos que éste tipo de operativos sigan efectuándose con mayor frecuencia y consigan erradicar, aunque sea un poco, el grave problema de piratería y falsificación.

Mexican plant breeders' rights: facts and figures

A useful article on plant breeders' rights in Mexico has recently been published, explaining the operation of the National Seed Inspection and Certification System (NSICS) which supervises the filing and grant of breeders' rights applications. Importantly for foreign applicants, it says that if the breeder has obtained the results of an examination by an authority abroad that formally collaborates with the NSCIS, such as the European Union's Community Plant Variety Office, the processing time for the corresponding Mexican application may be reduced if the applicant asks the NSCIS to take the examination results into account. If all necessary documentation is filed at the start, the process typically takes about one year.

The article also provides some data that shows the extent to which the Mexican protection system is used (as of September 2007):

"The NSICS's records show that 805 plant variety applications have been filed in Mexico, of which 37.6% were filed by US applicants and 33.5% by Mexican entities. Dutch, French and German applicants accounted for 11.9%, 8.4% and 3.5% of the applications, respectively. The NSICS has registered 184 applications for maize and 170 applications for roses - these high numbers are explained by the fact that maize originates in Mexico and by the country's wide range of climates for floriculture".

[source: "Plant Variety Protection System Continues to Bear Fruit", by Eric Alavez-Mejia (Becerril, Coca & Becerril SC, Mexico), writing in International Law Office].

Por el respeto a las ideas… los niños contra la piratería

Para crear conciencia entre la población del país sobre los derechos de propiedad industrial y los derechos de autor, así como de su protección por parte de las autoridades mexicanas, el Instituto Mexicano de la Propiedad Industrial (IMPI) lanzó la convocatoria para participar en la segunda edición del concurso de dibujo infantil.

El concurso de dibujo infantil, denominado Por el respeto de las ideas… los niños contra la piratería, no deja de ser otra curiosa forma que las autoridades están buscando para concientizar a los ciudadanos sobre los problemas y perjuicios que provoca la piratería.

Con este tipo de acciones, el IMPI busca inculcar en los niños mexicanos el valor y el respeto a los derechos de Propiedad Intelectual, toda vez que son ellos los futuros consumidores, productores, comerciantes y dirigentes de nuestro país.

Prison in Paraguay: sentencing options are amended

Law 3440/08, which amends certain provisions of the Paraguayan Criminal Code, was promulgated this July and is expected to come into force in July 2009. It amends Article 184, which governs violations of IP rights. In respect of various infringing acts that have criminal consequences the maximum custodial sentence is raised from three years to five. Where 'special circumstances' exist, the maximum sentence is eight years. Such circumstances are where

* goods are made or commercialised on an industrial scale;

* the infringing goods have a high commercial value;

* the infringement causes substantial financial loss to the rights owner and

* the infringer has engaged minors under the age of 18 in the commission of the infringement.

[source: Mirta Miyasaki (Berkemeyer Attorneys and Counselors, Asuncion), writing in World Trademark Report].