IPTango: patent

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Tuesday, 2 August 2022

Peru: the FIVE instruments of accession [I got it wrong]

Patricia Covarrubia August 02, 2022 No comments:

On July the 18th we published in this blog that the executive president of the Peruvian Intellectual Property Office (Indecopi) submitted, during the Sixty-Third series of meeting of the Assemblies of the member states, five instruments of accession.

At the time, the news was that one of them was the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement (re. denominations of origin and geographical indications), and I was quick to ‘guess’ that one could have been the Madrid System. At the end I reported on others that were still pending. Well…I got it wrong, my wonderful and desirable guess was not so brilliant after all. Peru is putting this in the ‘long overdue’ to do list, and I said overdue because Colombia, a counterpart in the EU FTA together with Peru, started to work towards this back in 2012.

The other guesses were: Locarno Agreement (re classification for industrial design); Strasbourg Agreement (re classification for patent); Nice Agreement (re classification for marks); and the Vienna Agreement (re classification for marks that consist or have a figurative element). All of them consist of international classification, which will appear in official documents and publications relating to the registration and renewals of the designs, patents, and marks respectively, the NUMBERS of the categories, DIVISIONS and SECTIONS of the Classification to which the design, patent and marks belong to.

Photo: Proarándanos

During the encounter, Peru noted its effort to implement WIPO GREEN. This is an initiative that promotes ‘innovation and diffusion of green technologies’ (for more info, see here). The goal is to ‘connect providers and seekers of environmentally friendly technologies’ via an online platform where they can exchange information. Peru noted that they are focusing on the agro-industrial sector specifically prioritizing coffee, and blueberries. Peru has TWO denominations of origin for its coffee: Café Villa Rica and Café Machu Picchu – Huadquiña. While there is none for blueberries, this fruit has put Peru in the top list of exporters, for instance, this year has exported more than 5,000 tons of blueberries (Proarándanos).

To read the news click here.

Brazil: fakes in the agricultural sector

Patricia Covarrubia June 24, 2022 No comments:

Pesticides and agricultural products suffer the same fate as any other products in the market, that is piracy. While IP plays a role as to protect patents, trade marks and other IP rights, the matter of piracy in this particular sector goes beyond protecting the economy and the private rights of the owners (incl. harming the country’s economy). Pirate products in this market endangers the lives of human beings and animals and may pollute the environment. Because of this, the Brazilian Association of Industries of Fine Chemistry, Biotechnology and its Specialties (ABIFINA), is positively acting to deter this crime by

Raising awareness for society to stop such practice which is a ‘crime’ and a matter of public health; back in September 2021, ABIFINA launched the “Brochure to Combat Piracy of Agricultural Inputs – Agricultural Defenses and Veterinary Products”.
Launching “Monitoramento de Ilegais AgroVet” [“Monitoring of Illegal AgroVet”] initiative. This brings together actions by police, customs, and agricultural inspection authorities in the fight against fakes. To this effect, news is collected and sent in a weekly report to interested parties.

Source ABIFINA.

Brazil: Patents and Transgenic Plants

Patricia Covarrubia June 14, 2022 No comments:

The Brazilian IPO (INPI) has initiated a public consultation on the Nota Técnica CPAPD nº 01/2022. The Nota ‘aims to define the guidelines to be followed by its examiners in the examination of patentability of inventions associated with transgenic plants’, specifically ‘elite event’.

Art 2 of the consultation welcomes suggestions and critiques related to the note and invite these to be submitted to cpapd.patentes@inpi.gov.br (deadline 30 days from 31 May 2022). After the deadline, and in accordance with Art 3 of the note, INPI will present the contributions provided by the consultation together with the final text. Click on the note to read the consultation publication [Portuguese]

The Nota Técnica CPAPD nº 01/2022 can be found here. [Portuguese]

The application of genetic transformation technology and the role of patents have been discussed for decades, in particular the matter of patentability of ‘living organism’ (biotechnology) and the ‘public-good breeding’. A technical understanding is needed as the requirements of novelty (new) and inventive step (non-obvious) are crucial. Moreover, whether the subject matter can be patentable. In any case, Brazil is a member of the international union for the protection of new varieties of plants (UPOV Convention) since 1999 and thus, have laws on plant variety protection in line with such international Convention.

Cisgenic tress by Oregon State University

In principle, biological matter is not patentable (in Brazil this is so by Art 18(III) of the Industrial Property Law – Law No 9.279/96). However, it does not mean that an invention is not patentable just because the product and or process contain biological material. Here is then when it gets complicated and thus, the guidelines are welcome.

Article One of the CPAPD nº 01/2022 starts by providing a definition of what ‘elite event’ means. This is done by FIVE criteria, as follow:

1)the event transforms a plant

2) through the insertion of a transgene

3) by using a genetic construct

4) been stable, in which the insertion took place at a specific location in the plant genome, and

5) gives the plant a superior technical effect when compared to other transformation.

Because transgenic plants are the ‘inventive concept’ that links to the ‘accessory ones’, there is the need to discuss the potential patentability of the additional inventions that derive from the main invention.

Source INPI.

Peru: Football and Intellectual Property

Patricia Covarrubia June 13, 2022 No comments:

This week we have two news related to football. The world cup always brings some technological advances that result in better sporting equipment e.g., Brazuca (the official ball of the 2014 World Cup that was invented to improve the aerodynamics and to make it water resistant). Adidas has been championing the football ball, but we do not hear much about small ‘players’, are they also innovating? Hernan Garrido Lecca, a Peruvian writer, producer, and inventor this year obtained a ‘utility model’ patent (Resolution N°000889-2022/DIN-INDECOPI) for ‘a highly competitive football jersey that helps players "kill the rebound" when receiving the ball with their chest during long passes. Garrido is using the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) to protect his invention internationally (see info here at INDECOPI).

In the same line, at the Peruvian IPO (INDECOPI) YouTube Channel, I watched ‘Dreams of Entrepreneurships’: The story of ‘Pragol’ a registered trade mark. Carla Paredes, a young woman who has always be passionate about football, grew up on an environment where football was not meant to be played by ‘girls’ – so she was told, and to play with dolls instead. Paredes, now is a entrepreneur who developed the mark ‘Pragol’ for urban clothing’. The mark is dedicated to female football fans, supporters and players and thus, a mark that inspire girls to follow their passion for football ‘without stereotypes’. Her aim is to ‘change the misperception that football is only for men’. One of her first steps was to register her mark – she notes, ‘nobody will steal this football dream from me’.

Picture adopted from Paredes's Instagram account

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.