Tag: Joint Parliamentary Front to Combat Piracy

Congress creates front to fight piracy

Pedro França / Senate Agency
Pedro França / Senate Agency

A group of federal deputies and senators instituted in the National Congress, at the end of May, the Mixed Parliamentary Front in Defense of Intellectual Property and Combating Piracy. The initiative has the support of several civil society entities, such as the ETCO-Brazilian Institute of Ethics in Competition, the National Confederation of Industry (CNI) and the Brazilian Association of Intellectual Property (ABPI). The Front brings together 206 deputies and 33 senators and is chaired by deputy Nelson Marchezan (PSDB-RS). "Many representatives of the private sector have been moving around this issue and we think it was time to take these discussions to Congress," said Marchezan.

The objective, according to the document signed by the parliamentarians, is "to debate and contribute with concrete solutions for the development and growth of the country, attacking subjective factors of the Brazilian cost, such as the lack of innovation and the legal insecurity that prevents investments" .

In the view of Front members, the difficulties that Brazilian businesspeople face in researching and developing new products are one of the causes of the high levels of counterfeiting and piracy in the country. They promise to stimulate mechanisms that facilitate innovation.

The work of the Front will also involve demanding greater involvement of the Executive Branch and civil society entities in initiatives that do not depend on a legal apparatus, such as campaigns to raise people's awareness of the various problems related to piracy. “Our great goal is that all Brazilians can understand the importance of intellectual property”, says Marchezan.

 

11 years to approve patent

Among the functions of the Executive that should be charged more by members of Congress are the exemption of amounts sent by Brazilian companies abroad to register patents in other countries and an improvement in the structure of the National Institute of Industrial Property (Inpi), so that requests of patent registration in the country gain agility. Today, the intellectual property registration takes, on average, 11 years to be approved. In countries like the United States and South Korea, it is possible to achieve this registration in less than half the time.

The greater movement of parliamentarians on the subject is already beginning to show results. In early June, the Senate passed a bill amending the rules to combat copyright infringement. The text is an initiative of the National Council to Combat Piracy and Crimes against Intellectual Property (CNCP), linked to the Ministry of Justice, and aims to give more power to the judge responsible for the process, facilitating the seizure and destruction of counterfeit goods. Before being sanctioned by the Presidency of the Republic, the bill must be voted on again in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.

 

 

 

 

 

Parliamentary Front will defend intellectual property in the National Congress

LOGOThe Mixed Parliamentary Front in Defense of Intellectual Property and Combating Piracy will be installed in the Chamber of Deputies this Tuesday, May 27, at 8:30 am. With the objective of strengthening innovation in the Brazilian economy - and making it more competitive globally -, the Front will bring into the National Congress a strong agenda for promoting innovation, protecting intellectual property and combating piracy.

Front creator, Federal deputy Nelson Marchezan Júnior (PSDB-RS) will assume the presidency, will open the launch event. The president of the Brazilian Intellectual Property Association, Elisabeth Fekete, and the president of the National Forum Against Piracy and Illegality (FNCP), Edson Vismona, will also speak.

“Brazil loses 92 thousand jobs due to piracy and disrespect for intellectual property, which discourages innovation and competitiveness. The loss for the industry reaches R $ 4 billion annually, not to mention the tax loss of almost R $ 1 billion annually. But we also have cases of international success, based on encouraging innovative processes and strong brands, such as Vale dos Vinhedos, in Bento Gonçalves (RS). The front wants to stimulate debates and solutions within the National Congress to multiply these successful cases ”, defends the President of the Front, deputy Marchezan Júnior.

ABPI President Elisabeth Fekete celebrates the installation of the front. “Protection of intellectual property is the only way to reward Brazilian innovation and encourage it. Without protection of intellectual property, Brazil innovates less, grows less, produces less. Taking this flag in an organized way to parliament is essential to have a more innovative and competitive country. ”

“In 2012 alone, Brazilians bought R $ 23,8 billion in pirated products. There are sectors where the illegal market is bigger than the legal one. The creation of a parliamentary front will give even greater impetus to our fight to combat this criminal practice that permeates almost all sectors of the Brazilian economy ”, defends Edson Vismona, president of the FNCP.

One of the first works of the front will be to list all the bills on the subject under analysis by both Houses, with the aim of mapping, guiding and providing guidelines to the legislative agenda.