Annual Technical Report on Patent Information Activities in 2009 submitted by Brazil (CWS/ATR/PI/2009/BR)

Click here to print the ATR form.

The term "patent" covers utility models and Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs).

Offices which issue design patents should report their design patent information activities in their Annual Technical Reports on Industrial Design Information Activities.

I. Evolution of patent activities

  Changes experienced in terms of application filings and grants with respect to the previous year
  Applications for BR patents and PCT national phase entrance decreased from 25.959 in 2008, to 23.878 in 2009 (- 8,0%), although data for 2008 and 2009 is not final because of PCT national phase.
Patents granted increased from 2.824, in 2008, to 3.153, in 2009 (+11,7 %).

  URLs of web pages of the Office's website that provide statistics related to patents
  Statistics related to Brazilian patents applications are available at
https://www.inpi.gov.br/menu-esquerdo/instituto/estatisticas-new-version/
II. Matters concerning the generation, reproduction, distribution and use of primary and secondary sources of patent information

  Publishing, printing, copying (main types of publications of the Office in the field of patent information, etc.)
  (1) Paper Patent Documents
Published patent applications and granted patents documents are prepared by the Dissemination, Documentation and Technological Information Center (CEDIN), a Division of the Directorate of Institutional Partnerships and Technological Information (DART) that is responsible for the dissemination of the technological information.
The patent applications documents are published with a letter code "A", the utility models are published with a letter code "U" and the Addition Certificates are published with a letter code "E". Letter codes "B", "Y" and "F" refers to, respectively, granted patents of invention, utility models and Addition Certificates.
Copies of all published patents are sent to the search files.

(2) Industrial Property Gazette
Since April 2005, official notices and selected bibliographic data relating to BR patent applications and granted patents are internally generated and published in the official weekly electronic Brazilian Official Gazette (Revista da Propriedade Industrial - RPI). Official gazettes are available on the Brazilian Patent Office website in PDF and TXT format, at http://www.inpi.gov.br/menu-superior/revistas, and all published officials gazettes are stored in the library and are available to the public.


(3) Internet
Bibliographic data of Brazilian Patents are available to consultation at an internal database (SINPI) and at internet (www.inpi.gov.br). Key words searches in titles or abstracts are available only in Portuguese. Brazilian patent documents' first pages contain bibliographic data, according to WIPO standards.
INPI sends to the European Patent Office the bibliographic data and electronic copies of the whole patent applications and granted patents, as soon as the domestic publication was done, to be part of EPOQUE system and of the searchable website at Espacenet database (ep.espacenet.com) and Latipat database (lp.espacenet.com). In 2009, approximately 500.000 pages of patent documents were digitalized and sent to EPO.

  Main types of announcements of the Office in the field of patent information
  INPI's website (www.inpi.gov.br) plays an increasingly important part in the dissemination of notices regarding to patents, as well as it informs the public and the community of users all the information concerning training activities, events and legal information concerning intellectual property.

Besides that, the official gazette weekly provides to the users the information concerning INPI's decisions on patent matters.

  Mass storage media used (paper, microforms, optical storage, etc.)
  INPI has a collection of DVD and CD-ROM containing published or granted US, WO, EP, DE, ES, FR, JP, OA and CH patent documents, and paper copies of the whole documents can be provided for internal or external demands.

INPI Office has also a paper collection of BR, US, WO, EP, AU, CA, NL, DE, CH, GB and FR patent documents classified according to the IPC and a microform patent document collection from BR, ES, US, FR, GB, DE and CH. This collection has been frozen since the implementation of the search systems. Internal users access CD-ROM, DVD, Epoque, Dialog, Internet and SINPI (internal database) and external users access CD-ROM, DVD, Internet.

  Word processing and office automation
  INPI has access to Microsoft Windows and BROffice softwares, which provides an integrated and extensive network of applications that are available to all staff. All personal have their own workstation on which numerous applications are available. Word processing can be carried out using Microsoft Word and BROffice Writer; PowerPoint, Excel, BROffice Impress and BROffice Calc are also available; IPC 8 has been translated to Portuguese and is available through Internet at http://pesquisa.inpi.gov.br/ipc/index.php.

Search tools, including online access to commercial databases, are available to technical staff, patent examiners and technical personal performing patent information activities to external users. There is also a corporate mainframe database (Integrated System of Industrial Property - SINPI), for processing the life of a BR patent application, where searches can also be performed. The Office's intranet contains a very large collection of essential information for the INPI staff.

Copies of the documents cited in the search reports are produced in-house to supply the applicants. All the staff access the Internet and the Office's intranet and has their own official e-mail addresses.

  URLs of web pages of the Office's website that provide access to online publication of patent documents and gazettes, and to other primary and secondary sources of patent information, including patent publication servers and download of bulk patent data
  INPI's website provides online access to the patent applications and granted patents. Patent gazettes can be accessed in http://www.inpi.gov.br/menu-superior/revistas. Brazilian patents database is available through Internet at http://www.inpi.gov.br/menu-superior/pesquisas.
III. Matters concerning abstracting, classifying, reclassifying and indexing of technical information contained in patent documents

   Abstracting, reviewing, translating
  No service of translation, abstracting and reviewing is conducted by INPI.

  Classification1, preclassification2 (if applicable), and reclassification3 activities; Classification system used, e.g., International Patent Classification (IPC), other classification (please indicate whether or not patent documents are classified by your Office and, if so, which classification is used)
  Patent applications are classified by INPI staff according to the latest edition of the International Patent Classification, advanced level. If it is necessary, some documents are reclassified.

  Bibliographic data and full-text processing
  Bibliographic data processing is used for search using the internal system (SINPI) and through Internet (http://www.inpi.gov.br/menu-superior/pesquisas).
IV. Search file establishment and upkeep

  File building
  File building and updating of search files, classified under the IPC is centralized. BR patent documents collection is arranged according to the IPC, as well as in numerical order.

In 2009 Brazilian patent collection increased 15.668 documents.

  Updating
  Administrative staff carries out updating of search files centrally.

  Documentation from other offices maintained and/or considered part of the available search file
  Paper collection contains US, WO, EP, AU, CA, NL, DE, CH, GB and FR patent documents.

CD-ROM and DVD collection contains US, WO, EP, DE, ES, FR, JP, OA and CH patent documents.

Either paper or digital documents are available through search techniques, for internal patent examiners and external users.
V. Activities in the field of computerized and other mechanized search systems

  In-house systems (online/offline)
  The SINPI database (Integrated System of Industrial Property) is the in-house system available for searching. Technical searching can be carried out using the IPC code or indexing terms, combinations of terms from the same or different headings for searching patent documents, legal status or other parameters. Brazilian patent applications database is available through Internet at http://www.inpi.gov.br/menu-superior/pesquisas.

  External databases
  Since 2005 patent examiners from INPI/BR have access to EPOQUE (European Patent Office Query) system in order to perform their examination searches. Their tasks became faster with this tool.

Besides EPOQUE they also have the access to the databank DIALOG and other specialized databases (chemical, biotech, etc.) in order to carry out searches in patent documents or other publications. INPI staff access these databases using a number of online hosts that the Office subscribes to. The official policy is that a worldwide online search should be carried out as whole or part of every patent search or examination done in this Office. Workstations with CD or DVD drivers are used by the technical staff for information purposes and also by the external searchers. They also access free online patent databases that are available through internet
and non patent literature databases that are available through EPOQUE, DIALOG and through internet.

  Administrative management systems (e.g., register, legal status, statistics and administrative support)
  Register, legal status and administrative support information is stored on the SINPI database.

  Equipment used (hardware, including the types of terminal and network used, and software), carriers used
  Servers IBM and HP are used to support Internet, Internal Databases, E-mail and Intranet. The internal network uses a client-server arrangement on an Ethernet LAN running Informix Netware. The PCs used by all staff performing patent and information activities are Pentium 4, 2.8 GHz, machines with 17" and 21" screens and DVD drivers.

  Existing online thesauri; their structure, presentation and usefulness for computerized searches
  INPI does not use online thesauri.
VI. Administration of the industrial property office library, and information products and services available to the public (relating to facilities, e.g., for lodging applications, for assisting clients on searching procedures, for obtaining official publications and registry extracts)

  Planning, administration, automation, security, buildings
  INPI has an internal library that is conducted by the Dissemination, Documentation and Technological Information Center (CEDIN). The library collection contains technical books, pamphlets, manuals, some legal reports, name and subject-matter indexing books, periodicals and official gazettes from many different countries. The collection is located in the office's main building in a securely manner, and the consultation can be done via intranet (INPI staff) or locally (INPI staff and external users).

  Collecting, acquisitions, preparation
  All INPI staff is free to suggest additional material for inclusion in the library collection, and the administrative manager periodically asks for suggestions.

In 2009 the library staff received approximately 3.329 requests from researchers and 9.245 copies of articles or technical information were demanded by the internal and external researchers. The library was updated with 996 new books, pamphlets etc.

In 2009 the library published 35 Bibliographic Alerts that list new publications available in the library and help to divulgate matters concerned to intellectual property. Those Bibliographic Alerts are available through INPI intranet.

  Collection management, preservation
  The Dissemination, Documentation and Technological Information Center (CEDIN) is in charge of maintaining the library.

  Interlibrary lending, resource sharing, networks of patent libraries in the country
  The library provides external services to customers. They provide copies of articles, technical searchers, and have a close contact with other specialized libraries from over Brazil and abroad. It can be accessed through the e-mail biblioteca@inpi.gov.br.

  Information services available to the public (including computerized services and search files contained in libraries remote from your Office and patent information posted by your Office on the World Wide Web)
  The Patent Office's Search and Advisory Service continues to promote its activities in providing priced patent investigations. In 2009, 950 patent searches were processed.

INPI has developed a service (Central Enquiry Unit) to provide answers to customers' doubts, available at INPI's homepage (http://www.inpi.gov.br/menu-esquerdo/pasta_ouvidoria).

INPI sends to the European Patent Office the bibliographic data and electronic copies of the whole patent applications and granted patents, as soon as the domestic publication was done, to be part of the searchable website at Espacenet.

  URLs of web pages of the Office's website that provide information on business procedures such as: filing, publication, examination and grant procedures related to patents; opposition and appeal procedures related to patents; etc.
  http://www.inpi.gov.br/menu-esquerdo/patente/pasta_processamento

  URLs of web pages of the Office's website that provide a description of information products and services offered by the Office (e.g., patent search service(s) and patent databases), as well as information on how to access and utilize them
  Patent search services:
http://www.inpi.gov.br/menu-esquerdo/informacao/pasta_manual

Patent databases:
http://www.inpi.gov.br/menu-esquerdo/informacao/pata_bases

Patent application copy service:
http://www.inpi.gov.br/menu-esquerdo/informacao/pasta_copia

Patent grant copy service:
http://www.inpi.gov.br/menu-esquerdo/patente/pasta_servicos/copia_html

Other services relating to a patent document
http://www.inpi.gov.br/menu-esquerdo/patente/pasta_servicos
VII. Matters concerning mutual exchange of patent documentation and information

  International or regional cooperation in the exchange of machine-readable information, e.g., bibliographic data, abstract and/or full text information
  INPI makes use of all relevant WIPO standards. In 2009, 42.800 published Brazilian patents applications were sent to foreign patent offices in a cooperation exchange. In 2009, INPI has sent the Brazilian patents applications (PI - patent invention, MU- utility model, C- additional certificate) and/or industrial designs documents (DI) in paper to OAPI (PI, MU, C, DI, with BR priority); RU (PI, C, with BR priority); GB, CU, DE (PI, MU, C, with BR priority) and PY (PI, MU, C, all the documents applied in Brazil). Also, INPI has sent to EPO and USPTO the digitalized Brazilian documents by ftp.

  Medium used for exchange of priority documents
  In 2009, paper and ftp were the medium used for exchange the Brazilian patent documents.


  Medium allowed for filing applications
  Patent applications are accepted only on paper form. There is a project to accept online patent applications and the equipments and programs required for the system are been purchased.
VIII. Other relevant matters concerning education and training in, and promotion of, the use of patent information, including technical assistance to developing countries (please indicate URLs of web pages of the Office's website wherever appropriate)

  Training courses for national and foreign participants, use of audiovisual means
  In accordance with the Brazilian Innovation Law, INPI has began an extensive training program, including seminars and courses, aiming to prepare managers and technicians staff in different aspects of intellectual property.

By the end of 2009, INPI has trained managers and technicians from Universities, Institutions of Research and Development, Secretaries of Science and Technology and Institutions supporting small and medium-sized enterprises.

  Assistance to developing countries (sending consultants and experts, receiving trainees from developing countries, etc.)
  The Brazilian Patent Office has an active bilateral and cooperation programs with different countries, including a number of developing countries. In 2009, the Search and Advisory Service carried out 7 free patent searches to WIPO under the Program of Patent Information Services for Developing Countries, and 39 free patent searches to Paraguay under a bilateral cooperation.

INPI also delivers seminars and lectures in different places including developing countries.

From 7th to 11th, December 2009, took place in INPI, Rio de Janeiro, the XXIX Industrial Property Seminar to Latin American Countries. Governmental Agency examiners and technicians from different countries of Latin America came to INPI to exchange experiences with Brazilian examiners and technicians.


  Promotional activities (seminars, exhibitions, visits, advertising, etc.)
  The Directorate of Institutional Partnerships and Technological Information (DART) continued to promote, in 2009, INPI's presence at many exhibitions or seminars, and conducted visitors to the Office.

  Studies to identify trends in new technology, e.g., by the use of patent statistics and preparation of monographs
  Programs and Studies Division (DIESPRO), a Division of the Dissemination, Documentation and Technological Information Center (CEDIN), is in charge of preparing programs and studies using bibliographic and technological information available in patent documents in order to provide statistical information to monitor the trends in patent activity.

In 2009 INPI published the study "Combustible Cell". All the published studies, including the old ones, are available at http://www.inpi.gov.br/menu-esquerdo/informacao/estudos_html.

In 2009 INPI published 16 Technological Alerts consisting of a survey of the technology published worldwide on strategic affairs of the Federal Government. For each subject there will be a semiannual publication. The Technological Alerts were about Bio-fuel, Stem Cell, Combustible Cell, Wind Energy, Solar Energy, Nanotechnology, Patents to Hearing Impaired People and Patents for Visual Impaired People. All published Technological Alerts are available at http://www.inpi.gov.br/menu-esquerdo/informacao/alerta-tecnologico-1.
IX. Other general information related to the Office that is available on the Internet -- URLs of web pages of the Office's website that:

  provide information on legislation related to patents
  Information on legislation related to patents is available at http://www.inpi.gov.br/menu-esquerdo/patente/pasta_legislacao.


  contain the Annual Report of the Office
  The Annual Report of INPI is available at
http://www.inpi.gov.br/menu-esquerdo/instituto/copy_of_relatorios-de-gestao-new-version-new-version.

  contain patent-related news regarding the Office
  Patent-related news regarding to the Office is available at
http://www.inpi.gov.br/menu-superior/imprensa.
X. Other relevant matters
After being accepted in 2007 as an International Searching Authority (ISA) and an International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA), INPI started to prepare all the administrative and technical needs for the execution of this new task. Brazilian Patent examiners began to act as ISA and IPEA in August, 2009. By the end of this year, 63 international applications have chosen Brazil as the competent ISA. In INPI there is a working group responsible for the Quality Control System.


In 2009 INPI continued with the Innovation and Intellectual Property Academy activities. The Professional Master in Intellectual Property and Innovation received students from different areas (lawyers, engineers, managers etc).

Brazilian National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) and National Institute of Metrology (INMETRO) continued working in close collaboration, in order to establish the Brazilian Center of Biological Material. The final objective of this project is not only to provide the necessary infrastructure for accepting patent applications in the biotechnological field with the biological material, but also to contribute for the organization of services, which will allow the offering of certificates for research and development, according to international requirements of safety. The Center will be located at Xerém, in Rio de Janeiro, and will be divided in two sections: one for materials in secrecy conditions and another for materials capable of being used in research.

In 2009 the Program of Automatic Supplying of Technological Information (PROFINT) gave support to 47 institutions. INPI sent to these institutions 65.208 front pages of patent documents in 2009. These documents are selected in the IPC fields that the institutions have chosen. INPI has a signed contract with each one of these institutions.

In 2009 INPI began to publish Brazilian granted patents. The "pdf" images are available through espacenet database.
1.Classification is allotting one or more classification symbols (e.g., IPC symbols) to a patent application, either before or during search and examination, which symbols are then published with the patent application.
2.Preclassification is allotting an initial broad classification symbol (e.g., IPC class or subclass, or administrative unit) to a patent application, using human or automated means for internal administrative purposes (e.g., routing an application to the appropriate examiner).  Usually preclassification is applied by the administration of an office.
3.Reclassification is the reconsideration and usually the replacement of one or more previously allotted classification symbols to a patent document, following a revision and the entry into force of a new version of the Classification system (e.g., the IPC).  The new symbols are available on patent databases.

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