Brazil Supreme Court judges patent term minimum term unconstitutional
Judgment on the Constitutional Challenge ADI 5529, concerning the minimum term of 10 years from grant for patents in Brazil, set forth by the sole paragraph of Article 40 of Law No. 9,279/96 (the Brazilian IP Law), was concluded on May 6, 2021 by the Supreme Court.
By a majority of votes, the court decided that this minimum term is unconstitutional. Therefore this provision was invalidated and the term of patents will be always of 20 years from the filing date.
In view of the large number of patents already granted under the now invalidated provisions, the Supreme Court has now to address how the outcome of unconstitutionality should impact those patents. This ruling was scheduled for the next judgment session, to be held on May 12th 2021.
FICPI's view and involvement
FICPI members are qualified independent IP attorneys around the world who bring insights and counsel from their wider external perspective and share those insights with their FICPI colleagues via the FICPI website, newsletter, webinars and committees.
Next steps
- Find more background in the 6th April 2021 article from Gabriel Di Blasi, and in the 4th May blog from Ana Celidônio
- Consider joining FICPI’s ‘CET 3’ Study & Work Committee on international patent matters.