The news is out – are you in the list?

Early on this week the blog posted the "Special 301 Report" published annually by the United States Trade Representative (USTR). The Report re-evaluates the state of intellectual property rights (IPR)—to include protection and enforcement, in trading partners around the world.

From Latin America (LA), the list indicates that Argentina, Chile and Venezuela were placed in the "priority watch list" BUT does it mean that the other LA countries were given the o.k.?

I did have a look at the complete list and unfortunately the majority of the LA countries appear in the Watch List. I found Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and even a note regarding the situation of Paraguay, which is in the Monitoring List. Yet, the USTR is pleased to see the progress made by the country and it refers to a case decided in 2011 which obtained the first conviction under its new criminal laws. However, the USTR still has serious concerns regarding piracy and counterfeiting and advice the country to “intensify its customs actions and improve its cooperation with neighbouring countries Brazil and Argentina on cross-border enforcement of IPR.”

Under different headings I was looking for the LA countries and I found the following:

• Trade marks and pharmaceutical products: There is concern with the “proliferation of the manufacture, sale, and distribution of counterfeit pharmaceuticals in trading partners such as Brazil...Peru...” It noted that there is an increase in the “practice of shipping of counterfeit products separately from labels and packaging in order to evade enforcement efforts.” It gives the example of Russia but later on it refers to Paraguay informing that they do “facilitate these illegal activities by exporting label and packaging components to counterfeit and pirated product assemblers.” It also adds that other countries such as Mexico and China are used as transit of such labels.
•  Piracy over the Internet and Digital Piracy It is said that the US will work in this area as to strengthen legal regimes and enhance enforcement with countries such as: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela [notice that I referring only to Latin America countries but other countries are also listed]. In this section the USTR reports that even though piracy over the Internet is replacing physical piracy, there is still production of, and trade in, CDs and DVDs and this remains as major problems in many regions such as Paraguay.
• Governmental Business software: The use of only authorized business software was also in the agenda. Paraguay and Peru appear in this heading as countries that need to adopt an “effective and transparent procedures to ensure legitimate governmental use of software.”

Can we say that Latin America was given the thumb up or thumb down? I believe that as a Region we are on the list! And unfortunately this is something not to be proud of. But who are not in the list? There is always light at the end of the tunnel and thus, the region can have a look at other counterparts and neighbours such as Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Uruguay.

bits and bots from Brazil

Software
INPI informs that one of the most important centres of innovation in the country, i.e. Pernambuco, is becoming a focus of intense activity for the INPI. On November 23, 2011, Recife hosted a seminar on the importance of registration of software, which provides software owners greater legal certainty and the possibility of entering into public bidding. INPI's person in charge of this area is Rodrigo Moerbeck, who did a presentation for the local entrepreneurs.

Since October INPI has an agreement with the government of Pernambuco, which includes local Sebrae, the State Secretariat of Science and Technology and the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE). The purpose is to provide training activities for local entrepreneurs and researchers.

Today, INPI will hold in Recife a pilot- project regarding contracts of services
on licensing of technology (for previous users only). In 2012, the project will be open to all interested parties.

Copyright
INPI in partnership with the Copyright Office of the National Library (EDA) is promoting today - Monday November 28, the event ‘The Copyright and Industrial Property’. EDA is the institution that holds the Brazilian national archive collection and “has long experience in processing requests to register”. The meeting will also present the institutional activities and vision of each entity. INPI will make appearances and talks on trade marks, industrial designs and software registration.

INPI reveals discounts
As mentioned in an early post, INPI has increased the fees but also announced that there were to be some discount [I love a 3x2]. The fees (increase and discounts) will be in force from January 2012. Certain parties will enjoy up to 60% discounts: individuals, micro entrepreneurs, small businesses and cooperatives as defined by law, teaching and research institutions, nonprofits organizations, as well as public bodies, in some circumstances. Check here to see the table.

Free software – the International Forum

Since 2000, the International Free Software Forum (FISL) gives participants a political discussion, social and technical advice on free software. The official opening of the 11th International Free Software Forum will run on July 21st through July 24th 2010 in Porto Alegre, Brazil.This event is considered the largest gathering of open source communities in Latin America and one of the world largest.

The forum launches its 11th edition combining lectures, discussions and news about open source software. On its stand, Dataprev promote mini-courses on topics such as digital television, digital transmission and searching of content on intranets. Besides workshops, there program contains153 lectures.

Institutions that have already confirmed their presence in the forum are: Petrobras, Banco do Brazil, Caixa Economica Federal, IG, UOL, HP, SAP, IBM, Senac, Federal Service of Data Processing (Serpro) and Ministry Science and Technology, among others.

For more information click here.

Brazil: billion dollar damages for improper use of software – will the Superior Court of Justice uphold the first instance decision?

The Third Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) is hearing an appeal with the aim of changing compensation for inappropriate use of software that can reach the value of $ 1 billion - one of the highest ever of its kind in Brazil. The decision came from the Court of Justice of São Paulo (TJSP), which held that Rede Brasileira de Educação a Distância S/C Lta has breached the Centro de Estratégia Operacional Propaganda e Publicidade S/C Ltda’s intellectual property rights.

The Rede Brasileira has been accused of using, without authorization, a software authored by researchers from the Centro de Estratégia and distributing it to 10 Brazilian universities and 33 foreign universities. This, according to the news, represents access to the software of approximately 17,000 teachers and 190,000 students.

On one hand, the defence, asking the STJ to reduce the amount of the damages, asserted that "the amount escape all the standards already required in the context of justice." On the other hand, the Centro de Estratégia Operacional Propaganda e Publicidade S/C Ltda claims that the amount of compensation is calculated based on the universe of people who may have had access to the software.

Minister Sydney Benet, from the STJ, proposed in his vote, to form a committee of arbitration to make a calculation of the compensation more in line with reality. While I am not familiar with IP finance and the system of monetary compensation, I like the reasoning of Mr Benet. At the end of the day, I believe that the ‘reality’ check should be about market return and so, the actual compensation and not a theoretical one. Any thoughts?