WTO: Brazil belongs to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It is also a signatory to the Paris Convention, Berne Convention, Madrid Agreement, Rome Convention, Patent Cooperation Treaty, Strasbourg Agreement, Phonograms Convention, Nairobi Treaty, Film Register Treaty, and the Universal Copyright Convention.

In the past four years, Brazil has passed revised copyright, software, patent, and trademark legislation. Brazil’s new Industrial Property Law took effect in May 1997, bringing most aspects of Brazil’s patent and trademark regime up to the standards specified in the WTO TRIPs Agreement. However, the new law also includes a local working provision that appears to be TRIPs-inconsistent, as noted above.

Patents: The Industrial Property Law provides patent protection for chemical and pharmaceutical substances, chemical compounds, and processed food products not patentable under Brazil’s 1971 law, and provides patent protection for genetically altered micro-organisms.

The law also extends the term for product patents from 15 to 20 years, and provides “pipeline” protection for pharmaceutical products patented in other countries but not yet placed on the market. The large backlog of pipeline patents is being processed.

Trade Secrets: The Industrial Property Law specifically allows criminal prosecution for revealing trade secrets of patented items, with a penalty of imprisonment for three months to a year or a fine. The regulations as written are narrower than the TRIPS Agreement. However, the government argues that since it incorporated Article 39 of the Agreement into law when the Uruguay Round agreements were ratified, in effect it provides a level of protection consistent with the TRIPS Agreement.

Trademarks: The Industrial Property Law improves Brazil’s trademark laws, providing better protection for internationally known trademarks, but contains a long list of categories of marks that are not registrable. U.S. industry has expressed concern with the continued high level of counterfeiting in Brazil, although some foreign firms have been successful in court actions against trademark infringement.

Copyrights: In February 1998, in an effort to raise Brazil’s copyright protection to the level of the TRIPs Agreement, President Cardoso signed a new copyright law that generally conforms to international standards. Enforcement, however, remains a serious problem. The generally inefficient nature of Brazil’s courts and judicial system, combined with resource constraints, and other law enforcement priorities have complicated the enforcement of intellectual property rights. The Brazilian government is working on a project to broaden criminal penalties and streamline the judicial process.