As in other countries, licensing agreements are common forms of accessing the Brazilian market. All licensing and technical assistance agreements, including trademark licenses, must be registered so is very important to talk to a competent local attorneys specialized in structuring such agreements.
A major concern of foreign companies trading with Brazil is protection of intellectual property rights is often inadequate and uncertain. Brazil is a signatory to the Paris, Bern and Universal Copyright conventions on intellectual property rights (IPR) protection.
Most of the country's statutes on IPR are consistent with Western standards. However, serious gaps exist regarding patent protection for pharmaceuticals, trademarks and trade secrets. Legislation is before Brazil's Congress to address most of these issues.
A firm doing business in Brazil must carefully watch its trademark rights. Licensees, distributors, agents and sometimes purchasers will file trademark applications on your firm's trademarks. You should consider using a trademark watch so you will be able to oppose any such trademark application.
Companies established in Brazil are now virtually free to negotiate technology transfer contracts. INPI (Instituto Nacional da Proteção Industrial - http://www.inpi.gov.br/) will no longer express an opinion on the terms on which a company has negotiated a technology transfer agreement. However, contracts still have to be registered with INPI, a process that should take no longer than one month.
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