Brazil subscribes to int’l treaty on trademarks

Brazil ed the Madrid Protocol thirty years after the creation of this international treaty facilitating the registration of trademarks overseas and reducing related costs. The document was signed Tuesday (Jun 25) by President Jair Bolsonaro after it was approved by Congress last month.

The Foreign Ministry reported Brazilian companies may now their trademarks simultaneously in the 102 signatory countries, submitting documents exclusively in Brazil to the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI).

The protocol will be made fully effective in 90 days, “after the hip instrument is submitted to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), headquartered in Geneva, and should be internally approved with the same deadline,” the note says.

The deal simplifies application procedures, lowers deposit and process management costs, allows interested companies to predict how long it takes for requests to be answered, and makes it possible for trademark protection to be permanently monitored in all countries where it has been ed.

Brazil’s National Industry Federation (CNI) estimates assessment deadlines and registration costs to be 75 percent lower than current ones. CNI Industrial Development Director Carlos Abijaodi said registration can take up to four years in Brazil.

Some companies chose to overseas directly because the process was quicker there than here, Abijaobi added. “We were losing trademarks that could be Brazilian but were being ed elsewhere.”

The signature will provide more security for companies, which then have more guarantees regarding investment and the effort they are doing to the brand in Brazil and and reach other markets. Abijaodi believes small businesses will benefit the most. “They don’t have the means to hire a lawyer to resort to the authorities in another country,” he argued.