EPO, Brazilian INPI to cooperate

"Brazil and EPO to enhance co-operation on patents" is the proud title of yesterday's European Patent Office (EPO) media release which declares:

"With a view to supporting innovation through improved use of the patent system, the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) of Brazil and the EPO have today signed a bilateral agreement aimed at enhancing co-operation between the two offices. Amongst other activities, the INPI and EPO will, under the agreement, exchange patent documents in Portuguese and English to create bilingual text corpora for use in the free Patent Translate service on the EPO's website. This will facilitate the filing of patent applications by Brazilian companies in Europe and by European companies in Brazil.

This enhanced relationship between the two regions is reflected in the trends in recent filing figures. For example, applications filed by French companies with the Brazilian Office saw a 7.7% increase between 2010 and 2011, while those from German companies rose by 14% in the same period. In turn, the number of applications filed by Brazilian inventors and companies in Europe in 2011 was 8.9% up on the previous year [in theory this looks like solid evidence that Brazil has made the transition from a destination for other nations' technology to a genuine exporter of its own creativity -- but remember: if I have 11 cows and then acquire a twelfth, my herd has grown by 9%, whereas if I have 100 cows and acquire another 5, my herd has grown a meagre 5%. Thus 8.9% of an initially small number looks more impressive than it really is].

"This agreement sets a new milestone in relations between the EPO and Brazil, paving the way for a strategic relationship aimed at fostering the protection of intellectual property in the two regions", EPO President Benoît Battistelli said. "European companies are among the most active users of the patent system in Brazil, filing 38% of all patent applications there. Against this background, improved co-operation between our two offices and, above all, the machine translation of documents from Portuguese into English and vice versa will be instrumental in breaking down language barriers and disclosing a wealth of technical information that inventors, scientists and engineers in both regions can freely use [this is probably the biggest long-term gain that this cooperation will generate, not just in information-sharing but in terms of having a better appreciation of prior art when drafting or challenging patents]. Complex challenges such as climate change and access to clean water and food cannot be mastered without innovation. Patent protection plays a key role in this."

The partnership will focus on sharing best practices in the patent grant procedure, capacity-building, patent information and IT solutions, including e-Patentes, which is built on EPO technology.

"Enhanced co-operation with the EPO will encourage the strategic use of the patent system in Brazil, leading to an increase in Brazilian patents in Europe and the emergence of new partnerships between European and Brazilian companies, which in turn will lead to further innovation", INPI President Jorge Avila said".