In a debate at the Chamber, the expert advised, however, that the careful evaluation about the implications of this kind of international treaty is necessary

Still on this semester, the Executive Branch shall send to the Congress a proposal of the Brazil and Madrid Protocol adhesion, a treaty in force since 1996 that facilitates the marks registration process in foreign countries. The director of the Economic Department of the Ministry of Foreign Relations, Carlos Márcio Cozendey, said in a Chamber seminar, on Tuesday (11), that Brazil’s adhesion to this protocol will provide space for the analysis of other marks agreements. According to the Diplomat, it will be easier to develop a consensus on the Hague System and Nice Agreement, that deal with record and mark classification procedures.

The great challenge in the analysis of this kind of instrument, as he emphasized, is to identify the implications of the adhesion for Brazil. "There’s a continuous concern on the balance between the private rights protection – the aim of this agreement – and the public interest."

According to the eminence of the need of analyzing a subject, the president of the Commission on Science and Technology, Communication and Information Technology, Deputy Eduardo Gomes of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party of Tocantins (PSDB-TO), suggested the accomplishment of a seminar called “Brazilian participation on international treaties related to commercial marks, other distinct signs and industrial drawings”, attended today at the Chamber.

According to the Deputy, the Chamber is not very familiar with the theme, "discussed long time ago at the Executive Branch". Due to this, according to him, the parliamentarians should discuss the subject so Brazil could be inside this international context with accuracy.

Ranking
Nowadays, Brazil is in the 5th position in number of marks registration requests in the world, according to data presented by the general sub-director of the Organização Mundial da Propriedade Industrial - OMPI (managed by the WIPO - World Intellectual Property Organization), Ernesto Rubio. The country is only behind China, USA, Japan and Korea.

Even though, Brazil is not signatory of any of the instruments discussed in the seminar – Madrid Protocol; Singapore Treaty, Vienna, Nice and Lisbon Agreements, as well as Hague System. The country signed only the TRIPS Agreement, ratified on 1994, but the requirements are in force since 2000 only. In the developing country condition, a period of six years was considered in order to adapt to the new requirements.

In the evaluation of Carlos Márcio Cozendey, from the Ministry of Foreign Relations, the adhesion to other treaties (besides TRIPS Agreement) did not occur because they provided relevant changes to the foreign trade that would require a huge effort in terms of Brazil’s adaptation. "We spent a lot of time analyzing TRIPS Agreement and its implications ", he emphasized.

Reporting – Maria Neves
Edition - João Pitella Junior
Translation - Grupo Solucion-SP Language/Maria Carolina M. Ogata