Privatization of the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office?

By definition a patent is an exclusive right granted by a government (through a national patent office or a regional patent office) for public disclosure of such invention. It should be noted that the government in question provides regional (inside their territory) legal protection for their invention; patents are a means of promoting innovation used by countries following innovation policies. Despite this universally accepted protocol, Brazil has taken a controversial new step as they are considering the semi-privatization of the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (something which isn’t covered much by media agencies).

The Brazilian government is planning on achieving this goal by merging the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office with a quasi-private organisation, enabling financial autonomy from the government. Despite Claudio Furtado (the president of the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office) ruled out the possibility of this patent office becoming extinct under this controversial new merger plan, legal and policy experts along with Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office examiners have criticized these plans.

As stated above, the biggest advantage according to the government of Brazil and the elements supporting this merger is the financial freedom it provides to the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office, additionally it provides an easier strain on the government given the current economic state. Another possible benefit is that the backlog of patents being granted by this office can be addressed by this merged organization. Despite these unquestionable benefits, the cons trump the pros, as this provides the possibility of private parties to misuse the power of this office as it can technically provide a conflict of interest for several cases as most (if not all private organizations theoretically may not be as unbiased as a government entity). Another issue this proposed merger brings up is the undisputed monopolization of granting patents by a single private entity as despite the observation from an economic perspective that privatization is beneficial as it provides competition for all parties involved, hence providing competitive pricing and economic growth, however, in this case, the existence of a single private player causes economic turmoil in the long run, and in this case, a potential slowdown in Brazilian innovation and development (especially in the technology sector).

In conclusion, despite the noble intentions behind this proposed merger, it causes more problems for the Brazilian people than it solves.

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