Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office issues first official statement on the adoption the
system of international trademark classification for goods and services
The Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office’s Official Gazette (called RPI) published on March 30,
1999, issued a brief statement from the Vice-Commissioner for trademarks notifying users about
the new computer system. According to the statement, the new computer system’s goals are to
reduce the time required for prosecution, improve access and control of pending trademarks
applications and to prepare the Office for the adoption of the system of international
classification of goods and services established by the Nice Agreement Concerning the
International Classification of Goods and Services for Purposes of the Registration of Marks.
According to the information published by WIPO, if Brazil does adhere to the Nice Agreement, it
will be the first country in South America to do so. However, it is most likely that the
office will only adopt the international classification system by an internal act which will
not require adherence to the Agreement.
Document prepared by the Brazilian PTO commissioner unfolds plans to become the regional office for the MERCOSUR
The February 99 issue of the internal bulletin of the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (INPI)
discloses a document prepared by the office of the commissioner called “strategic actions.”
According to the publication, the office of the commissioner will be working during the 1999 year
aiming at making the INPI the regional patent and trademark office for the countries of the MERCOSUR
agreement (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay).
The document acknowledges INPI’s leadership among the countries in Latin America and tells that the
office will become the headquarters for intellectual property in MERCOSUR. According to the
document, hosting the regional office is a strategic objective of the Brazilian private sector.
The bulletin also informs that INPI plans to make available a bilingual computer system developed with
the office’s proprietary know-how. The project to link the other MERCOSUR patent and trademark
offices includes a creation of a supranational court for patents and trademarks also located in
Brazil, the document says.
Finally, the document announces that INPI’s efforts in the international arena will soon be
acknowledged by including the Office as an international search authority for the PCT treaty.
Brazilian house of representatives approved the country’s accession to the UPOV treaty
On March 23, 1999, the Brazilian House of Representatives approved the bill for the legislative
decree 28 of 1998 by 313 votes against 116. The bill will give consent to the accession to the UPOV
treaty. The Administration was actively engaged in the process of having the treaty approved in
order to use the April deadline granted to the country to allow it to accede to the 1978 text. A
request for urgency (message 910 of 1997) was filed by the majority party to expedite the
legislative process for the treaty approval.
However, according to the Brazilian 1998 Constitution (article 49, I) and the Brazilian Congress’
internal rules the Senate still has to approve the treaty in order to allow the Administration to
deposit Brazil’s instrument of ratification. Only after the promulgation of a legislative decree
by the president of the Senate is the Administration allowed to deposit the instrument of
ratification of Brazil accession to the UPOV.
Brazilian Supreme Court decides on taxation of computer programs
Justice Ilmar Galvão, from the first chamber of the Brazilian Supreme Court wrote the opinion that
might help to bring to an end the tax war between software developers and authorities from states
and municipalities. The case has been accepted by the Court in 1994 (RE 176626) and was much waited
to settle divergence between lower appellate courts on the issue.
Brazil has no federal valued added tax or sales tax yet. Instead, it has a system by which all
three levels of government are allowed to tax under an archaic and burdensome system.
The software industry felt for several years the burden of paying tax both as services for the
municipal authorities and as goods for the State ones. In fact, both taxes were due over the same
transaction.
Making an analogy to the system of taxation of books in the country, the decision not yet reported,
established that only “off the shelf” software shall pay the taxes on goods (known in the country
as ICMS). Custom-made software, such as the ones developed by a software house for a particular
client shall only pay taxes on services.
