IPTango: cooperation

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Wednesday, 17 May 2017

Reunión anual del Grupo de Trabajo de PCT con presidencia chilena

Rodrigo Ramirez Herrera @ramahr May 17, 2017 No comments:

En la sede de la Organización Mundial de la Propiedad Intelectual (OMPI) en Ginebra, Suiza tuvo lugar entre el 8 y el 12 de mayo de 2017 la décima reunión anual del Grupo de Trabajo del Tratado de Cooperación en materia de Patentes (PCT), que reunió a sus 152 Estados miembros además de organizaciones intergubernamentales y no intergubernamentales en calidad de observadores.

Esta reunión fue inaugurada por John Sandage, Director General Adjunto del Sector de Patentes y Tecnologías de la OMPI, y tuvo por objeto discutir y analizar temas relacionados con la normativa PCT y el desarrollo futuro del sistema. Le correspondió presidirla por segundo año consecutivo al Director Nacional de INAPI, Maximiliano Santa Cruz, quien fue propuesto por el Grupo de Países de América Latina y el Caribe (GRULAC) y el Grupo de Países Africano, además de Canadá y fue apoyado por la unanimidad de los Estados miembros. Asimismo, la delegación de Chile, también contó con la presencia del Jefe del Departamento PCT de INAPI, Henry Crew.

Dentro de las materias que se discutieron en la reunión, se pueden destacar los servicios del PCT por internet, la formación de examinadores, la actualización de la documentación mínima contemplada para revisar en los informes de búsqueda internacional, la coordinación de la asistencia técnica en el marco del PCT y propuestas de reducciones de tasas para ciertos tipos de solicitantes como las universidades, entre otras materias.

En el mismo encuentro también se desarrolló la Trigésima sesión del Comité de Cooperación Técnica(CTC) del PCT, el cual también fue presidido por Santa Cruz, y en él se aprobó recomendar por unanimidad a la Asamblea de la Unión del PCT la designación de la Oficina de Propiedad Intelectual de Filipinas como nueva Administración encargada de la búsqueda y examen preliminar internacional (ISA/IPEA) y la prórroga de la designación de todas las Oficinas que desempeñan dicho rol y que suman actualmente 22, dentro de las cuales se incluye INAPI, para que ejerzan como Autoridad Internacional PCT por 10 años más, a contar del 01 de enero de 2018.

Fuente: Constanza Zülch (Comunicaciones INAPI)

Mercosur: advancing on IP

Patricia Covarrubia February 07, 2017 No comments:

Mercosur is one of the sub-regional trade agreement existing in Latin America. It consists of 4 parties: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – Venezuela was suspended on December 1, 2016. The agreement regulates tariffs; rules of origin; technical barriers to trade; sanitary and phytosanitary measures; services; among others. However it does not have a unique set of regulations in regards to intellectual property as its counterpart The Andean Community (CAN) which members are Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru - Venezuela withdraw in 2006.

While Mercosur does not have a regulation on IP, it is discussing cooperation in this area. We heard that on February 1st all presidents of national IPO from these countries met “to discuss technical cooperation among countries and discuss IP proposals for international negotiations.”

Will this cooperation have anything to do with the EU and Mercosur pending FTA?

What I see as IP negotiation.

The EU is currently negotiating a trade agreement with Mercosur. Included in this trade negotiations is the topic of IP. The EU is Mercosur's first trading partner and it is the biggest foreign investor in the region (rising from €130 billion in 2000 to €387 billion in 2014 – see European Commission Trade here). Moreover, one of the EU's biggest export tradeable goods to Mercosur are chemicals and pharmaceuticals (24%), no doubt that the EU wants to negotiate an IP section. The next round of negotiation is in March 2017.

President of Brazil visits France with GI in hand

Patricia Covarrubia December 18, 2012 No comments:

The Brazilian Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial (INPI) reports the official visit to France of Mrs Dilma Rousseff, President of Brazil. The Brazilian President handed to her French counterpart, President François Hollande, the Certificate of Designation of Origin (DO) for sparkling wines produced in the Champagne region.

The document was issued the 11th of December by INPI’s President, Jorge Ávila. It is said that the certificate was the result of 5 years co-operation between INPI France and INPI Brazil as well as the Committee Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC). The French President said that this recognition 'was an honour for the French ' and acknowledged Brazil’s improvement in relation to the protection of geographical indication (GI).

Moreover, the director of INPI France encouraged French producers to obtain legal protection of their GI in Brazil stating that the two offices are “highly engaged in the development of cooperation between the two countries to boost growth and mutual respect of interests”. On the other hand, INPI’s Brazil president said that the Brazilian cultural diversity has “immense potential of geographical indications and designations of origin. We have worked hard to spread among domestic producers to use this system as a national economic asset”.

Pilot Program extended between Intellectual Property Offices

Patricia Covarrubia March 13, 2012 No comments:

The Mexican Instituto de la Propiedad Industrial (IMPI) has recently publiched the following note:

The term of the Pilot Program for the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH), between IMPI and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has been extended.

Mexico City, March 06, 2012.- On February 22nd, 2011, The Institute announced the establishment of the first Pilot Program for the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), aiming to expedite and streamline the patent system in Mexico.The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) enables an application whose claims have been determined to be patentable in the Office of First Presentation (OPP) may undergo an expedited review in the Office of Second Filing (OSP) with a simple procedure at the request of the applicant.As such, each of the Offices win benefits from previous work, avoiding duplication of efforts and speeding the procedure for granting patents, resulting in a reduction in the examination workload and an improvement in quality of patents.This Pilot Program which became operational on March 12, 2011, provided an expiration date on February 29, 2012.Though, and derived that the use of the PPH has been proved as a successful and functional tool for the users of the industrial property system in Mexico, and that the use of it has contributed to the positioning of IMPI as a modern Institution in line with international trends in IP, in January 2012, IMPI held talks with the USPTO in order to extend the term of the PPH.Today IMPI and USPTO with pleasure announced that the PPH subscribed between both offices, extended its expiration day until August 31, 2012.

We also note that IMPI has signed (February, 29th) a cooperation agreement with the Brazilian Instituto Nacional da Propiedad Industrial (INPI).The news revealed that the "objective of the partnership is to strengthen technical cooperation between the two institutions, including activities such as exchange of experts, organization of training courses and events in industrial property, especially for small and medium enterprises. Another important focus is the use of Geographical Indication."

Delegación de la Oficina de Patentes China visitará Chile después de ir a Brasil y Perú

Rodrigo Ramirez Herrera @ramahr February 22, 2012 No comments:

El día 23 de febrero una delegación de cinco representantes de la Oficina de Patentes de la República Popular China (SIPO), liderada por su Comisionado Adjunto, Dr. LI Yuguang visitará el Instituto Nacional de propiedad Industrial (INAPI) de Chile.

En la ocasión se reunirán con el Director Nacional de INAPI Sr. Maximiliano Santa Cruz, y su gabinete con el propósito de intercambiar experiencias entre estas Oficinas y estudiar las menores alternativas de cooperación entre ambas.

Como inicio de esta relación entre SIPO e INAPI se firmará un memorando de entendimiento (MoU), que contempla importantes iniciativas que buscan establecer una relación de apoyo mutuo y desarrollar la cooperación sobre cuestiones relativas a la creación, utilización, promoción, protección y administración de los derechos de propiedad intelectual entre ambos países.

Esta misma delegación China ha estado sosteniendo reuniones de trabajo con el Presidente de la oficina de Propiedad Intelectual de Brasil (INPI) y con representantes de la oficina peruana de Propiedad Intelectual (INDECOPI).

Fuente: Paola Guerrero (Comunicado de Prensa INAPI)

Brazil: to promote and increase patents

Patricia Covarrubia November 04, 2011 2 comments:

Today I bring you several news regarding patents in Brazil. In a recent post, INPI declares that Brazil “is the world's seventh largest economy and 13th largest producer of science, but only occupies the 26th position among the countries that applied for patents in the United States.” It appears then that the country has a strong scientific and technological production, but yet does not materialize works into patents.

Due to this situation INPI, seeking to incentive the public, had arranged a debate called "The law of patents and the future of innovation technology in Brazil" taking place last Thursday 27th October. [You can have more information of what happen in the debate here – from academic perspective to agricultural products]

On the same week INPI exchanged information with the Chinese counterparts holding meetings on the 21st [oops! that is not the same week] and 24th October [ok, this one is]. Representatives of the Regional Patent Offices of Shanghai and Guangdong, attended the meeting. INPI informs that the reunion focused on exchange of information including use of information technology in Brazil and China.

Now getting the dates right, the previous week INPI noted that ‘Innovation and intellectual property’ were to be entered on the agenda of the Brazilian academic. To this effect the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) Innovation Agency has signed a cooperation agreement with INPI -- the goal of the partnership, signed on October 21, 2011, is to further expand the use of IP in the university, which was the sixth largest patent applicant at the INPI between 2004-2008 with 141 applications, followed by Petrobras, Unicamp, USP, UFMG and Whirlpool.
The partnership will include awareness - raising seminars on the subject, training in intellectual property, and a course on intellectual property issues in graduate courses in Biotechnology conducted by UFRJ.

Justice denies extension of anti-cancer drug patent [does this one promotes?]
INPI notified that it has another victory against a pharmaceutical. On October 26, 2011, the Federal Court of the 2nd Region (TRF-2) denied unanimously the appeal that sought to extend the validity of the patent medicine called ‘capecitabine’, used to treat cancer of the colon, rectum, breast, stomach, pancreas and gullet. The appellants hoped to increase the validity of the patent until December 2013, but the court agreed to keep the deadline set by INPI -- December 2012.

A welcome affair

Patricia Covarrubia September 29, 2011 No comments:

There is a new cooperation agreement between two powerful Patent Offices – oh yes! Last Monday, Sept 26th the Brazilian Intellectual Property Office (INPI) and the European Patent Office (EPO) has signed a cooperation agreement in Geneva, Switzerland, where the General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is being held (more info regarding the 49th series Meeting of WIPO's members here).

Oh yes? Well, not for long I have to say. The agreement will have five years validity – good enough I think. The agreement aims to carry out joint activities on topics such as: patent examination and administrative procedures, development of human resources, automation of the two institutes, and information technology.

Mr Avila, INPI’s president, and Battistelli, EPO’s president, agreed that this cooperation between the two will benefit both the European and Brazilian companies as well as users of the patent system in general .

Source INPI.

Some thoughts on taking advice

Patricia Covarrubia September 13, 2011 No comments:

Promoting innovation, strengthening national IP systems and developing actions to ensure the correct management and protection of IPRs leads us to this new trend of cooperation between national IP offices. To this effect a Memorandum of cooperation between the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) and the Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Russian Federation) was signed on the 24th of August this year.

The memorandum which can be read here, sets up certain goals related to IP like: technical expertise in human resources; seminars and workshops targeting small and medium enterprises on both countries; and, exchange of experiences in the use of international classification systems.

I am not sure if you have noticed the latest tendency that IP offices in Latin America are pursuing, namely associations or agreements or cooperation with other IP offices. We have for example Mexico and Japan;Brazil and Portugal; Brazil and Chile; UK and Brazil and I surely I am missing some more. In any case, I believe that anything that promotes and strengthen relations between countries is a good omen but this can be troublesome if not taken with cautious. In other words, when we take advice from different sources logic indicates that we take bits and bots – the best that suits us, but sometimes mixing many ideas, do not work well together – too many cooks spoil the soup!

Brazil and Portugal: reaffirming cooperation between national Institutes of Industrial Property

Patricia Covarrubia March 29, 2011 No comments:

The industrial property offices of Brazil and Portugal are already working on a plan to advance the cooperation between them, with the renewal of the current Memorandum of Understanding, planned for April. The two Institute Nacional da Propiedad Industrial - INPI’s presidents, Jorge Avila and Leonor Trindade, met on March 21, 2011 at the Institute of Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro to discuss the prioritisation of some issues. For instance: to promote the exchange of patent examiners, to deepen the discussion on the creation of the trade mark ‘lusófona’ and work together to develop the area of IP in Portuguese speaking African countries.

According to the news, Portugal’s INPI has computerized all its procedures, with 99% of trade mark applications and 97% of patent applications made online. The institute has also innovated in the Portuguese working model offered to its employees, having successfully implemented teleworking, giving the option to examiners and technologists to work from home.

National IP Institutes: United we stand.

Patricia Covarrubia January 31, 2011 No comments:

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.

Some IPTango moves

* Listed as one of the "Best blogs on Intellectual and Industrial Property Law". The University of Alicante Intellectual Property & Information Technology Project (UAIPIT).

* One of the only two Latin American blog listed in the "Top 100 Intellectual Property Blogs". Feedspot, as of May 2021.

* Listed as one of the "Top 15 Blogs For An Intellectual Property (IP) Enthusiasts". Buzzfeed.com, January 2017.

* Listed as one of the "World's Best IP Blogs". BananaIP.com, December 2015.

* IPTango founder Professor Jeremy Phillips was listed as one of the Managing Intellectual Property magazine's "Fifty Most Influential People" of 2005, 2011, 2013, and 2014.

* Listed as one of the "Influential intellectual property blawgs". A Dictionary of Intellectual Property Law, Peter Groves, 2011.

* Listed as one of the "Communities of Blawgers". Los blogs jurídicos y la web 2.0. para la difusión y la enseñanza del derecho, Gonzalo Ramírez Cleves, 2010.