Jorge Ávila Kept as President of the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office

The national newspaper “O GLOBO” reported today that Mr. Jorge Ávila has been maintained by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Commerce as the President of the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BPTO).

This information is understood as recognition of the work so far led by Mr. Jorge Ávila in the last 4 years ahead of the BPTO and represents that the new President of Brazil – Mrs. Dilma Rousseff – will keep the policy of improving the services rendered by the local agency of patents and trademarks.

Another important task undertaken by Mr. Jorge Ávila has been the hiring of personnel with technical background to assist the existing patent and trademark examiners and the reduction of the backlog of work. In this matter, trademark prosecution is taking nowadays approximately 24 months to be concluded and patent prosecution approximately 5 years, instead of the 7 years previously seen at the agency.

Mr. Jorge Ávila has promoted consistently partnerships and cooperation with main patent and trademark offices, such as the USPTO, the UK Intellectual Property Office and patent offices of Latin America.

His maintenance in the office should be made officially public in the next couple of days.