Brazil
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- If a page in Portuguese would be useful, it could be made at Brazil/pt.
- For the current consultation, see Brazilian patent office consultation 2012.
Contents
Legislation
National law
Patentable subject matter is defined in the law "Regula direitos e obrigações relativos à propriedade industrial":
| Portuguese original | Unofficial translation |
|---|---|
| Art. 10. Não se considera invenção nem modelo de utilidade: I - descobertas, teorias científicas e métodos matemáticos; II - concepções puramente abstratas; III - esquemas, planos, princípios ou métodos comerciais, contábeis, financeiros, educativos, publicitários, de sorteio e de fiscalização; IV - as obras literárias, arquitetônicas, artísticas e científicas ou qualquer criação estética; V - programas de computador em si; VI - apresentação de informações; VII - regras de jogo; [...] |
Art. 10. Shall not be considered an invention or a utility method: I - discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods; II - purely abstract concepts; III - schemes, plans, principles or methods for commerce, accounts, financing, education, advertising, lottery and control; IV - literary, architectural artistic and scientific works or any aesthetic creations; V - computer programs per se; VI - presentation of information; VII - rules of a game; [...] |
The "per se" is worrying. Patent offices sometimes invent absurd interpretations and use "per se" or "as such" as their excuse. Unclear words like these should be removed from legislation.
International agreements
Brazil is a signatory of the TRIPS agreement. This does not carry any requirements about software being patentable, but it defines some words that can be confusing. To avoid the confusing terms, legislation should describe software as being a work by an author (see TRIPS art. 10), and avoid saying that software is a field of technology. Software does not meet the legal definition of "technology".
Patent office
Brazil's patent office is the INPI: Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial.[1]
Related pages on ESP Wiki
External links
- http://www.inpi.gov.br - Brazil's patent office
- Leis Federais - list by FSFLA of Brazil's mains laws on software
- Business methods and software patents in Brazil - contains a general pro-software-patent bias, but also contains some useful practical information
News selection
(Newest first)
- Software patent debate heats up in Brazil, 16 Sep 2013, ZDNet
References
