Brazil retaliates against the United States IPRs

An interim measure was published last Thursday in the Official Gazette which retaliates against the U.S. The interim measure only deals with intellectual property and is effective immediately and must be ratified by Congress to become permanent law.

Last year, the WTO authorized Brazil to strike back against the United States because of subsidies that the U.S. government grants to producers of cotton in that country (see earlier IP tango post here). Brazil, then went on to develop a list of products that may have the import tax adjusted up to 100 per cent (see IP tango here).

With this new measure, Brazil will seek sanctions against intellectual property for an amount of up to $270 millions. So that, in addition to overtax the importation of goods from the US, Brazil may suspend and restrict the rights of intellectual property. The measure lists the possibility of retaliation on literary and artistic works, computer software, industrial design, crops and vegetables, and integrated circuits.