National IP Institutes: United we stand.

The Brazilian Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial (INPI) informs that the national intellectual property of nine South American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname and Uruguay) will hold later this year, a pilot project for cooperation in patent examination.

This action is part of the project for regional cooperation on patents called Prosur. With joint efforts, the goal is to seek greater efficiency and quality of patent decisions.

According to the information the project will work as follows: “300 patent applications in the fields of biotechnology and mechanical engineering will be selected. The patent applications should have been presented in two or more countries (forming part of this project). Thus, examiners of the involved countries will exchange information regarding ‘search and examination’ relevant for the final decision.

In the future, the goal is to expand to other areas.