A decision, still subject to appeal, was made available on 04/12/2022, in the public civil action filed by the Brazilian Intellectual Property Association (ABPI) against the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BPTO) and the Federal Government, in which the Federal Government is required to transfer to the BPTO the totality of its revenues.

In her verdict, the Judge of the 31st Federal Court of Rio de Janeiro emphasized the need to restructure the independent governmental agency, a point previously raised by Minister Dias Toffoli, when judging ADI No. 5.529 by the Supreme Federal Court. Furthermore, she stated that the disproportionality between the amounts that the BPTO collects and those that are in fact reverted to it has been demonstrated.

Finally, partially granted the requests, ordering the BPTO to submit an updated report on its operation and its material, budgetary and functional needs, as well as a plan to restructure its operation, for the years 2022 to 2024, within 90 days.  The Federal Government was ordered to remedy the structural nonconformity, transferring to the BPTO sufficient budgetary resources for the execution of the mentioned planning.

In the opinion of the founding partner of Di Blasi, Parente & Associados law firm and Attorney Director of the ABPI, Paulo Parente, “this is a surgical and courageous decision that aims to reestablish the state of compliance of the INPI, regarding its financial and administrative autonomy, since it is a federal autarchy of high strategic relevance for the country.”