Brazil in the international intellectual property hot seat

Over the last several months, several actions have placed Brazil in the international IP hotseat.

The Brazilian government is part of a group of developing nations that is opposing the harmonization agenda of the US, Japan and some European countries [see this prior PTP post].  Further, a Brazilian representative registered his “non-association” with a statement issued at the close of the recent WIPO-sponsored harmonization/development meeting in Morocco (an invite-only meeting for which most invitees were developed nations).  Last week the Brazilian government asked Merck, Abbot Laboratories, and Gilead Sciences for permission to copy four AIDS drugs it includes in a free cocktail it gives to Brazilian residents, a move viewed by many as a step toward invoking a compulsory license on the relevant patents.

And just yesterday, Defenders of Property Rights, a group organized “to counterbalance the governmental threat to private property as a result of a broad range of regulations,” issued a press release detailing its plans to petition for revocation of Brazil’s preferred trade status with the United States.  According to Defenders, the petition is a response to Brazil’s record of non-enforcement of its intellectual property laws.

And the hotseat will probably heat up in coming months as WIPO development and harmonization meetings take place.