Camila Vieira Guimarães
Lawyer at Marcos Martins Advogados
Last Thursday (April 29), the Federal Supreme Court (STF) resumed its judgment on the constitutionality of the minimum term for patents contained in the sole paragraph of article 40 of Law No. 9,279/96 (Industrial Property Law).
The trial was scheduled to take place on April 7, when the rapporteur of the case, Justice Dias Toffoli, analyzed an urgent request from the Attorney General’s Office and preliminarily suspended the application of the term extension to patents for pharmaceutical products and health materials, even with regard to pending applications.
When the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) incurs an excessive delay in analyzing patent applications, the Industrial Property Law provides for a minimum term of 10 years for inventions and 7 years for utility models until said analysis grants the patent that will be the subject of publication.
The decision on the legality of the minimum patent term could have repercussions for many patent holders in Brazil, even those who have already filed their applications and are awaiting a decision from the INPI.
The law firm Marcos Martins Advogados is attentive to the judgment on the merits that will soon be handed down by the STF and is ready to advise its clients by applying the most contemporary jurisprudential understandings on the matter.
