Studies of Patents of Invention (Utility Models or Industrial Designs)

• Portfolio of patents studies investigation about patents in force in Brazil or abroad and studies about their respective rights. Such studies are important before entering into partnerships with other companies or even before negotiations, because not patented products/processes, are losing power during negotiations.
  
  
• Patentability studies of new inventions (investigation about the technical status for analysis purposes of the patent power of an invention). This type of study is becoming less and less frequent, because when using the PCT (see document about Law of Patents) the solicitor is getting an international searching (bibliographical investigation) after filling application, that serves for positioning the invention in relation to the state of art or technology and to realize corrections, if necessary, before the examination takes place.
  
  
• Exploitation studies of product, process or equipment:
  • before exploiting a new product, in small or big scale it is important to check if there does not exist a patent being in force in Brazil.
  • before exporting or importing products it is important to check, first of all, if there exist patents in the countries where the products are intended to be commercialized, or in second case, the same has to be done in Brazil.
  
  
• Follow-up of patents application in Brazil or in other countries about product or specific interest, with the purpose of making arrangements for administrative nullification requests or “subventions” to the examiner for obstructing patents. Such follow-up is being realized by making use of constantly emitted information of the Patents Database of the INPI (Brazilian Patent Office).
  
  
• Follow-up of contracts filled in the INPI.
  
  
• Infringement of Patents studies to check if third parties are exploiting patented objects without the consent of the patentee.
  
  
• Studies about the status of patents in Brazil or abroad.
  
  
• Information about legislation of industrial or intellectual property in Brazil or abroad.
  

Filling of Patents or Utility Models

• Filling of patents of invention or utility models applications in Brazil:
  • Preparing of descriptive report and filling: patent of invention, utility model, industrial design;
  • follow-up of the process before INPI: request of substantive examination, response to Technical Report and Office Action during examination, cession, transfer etc;

• Other services
  • administrative nullity request, objections, appeals against rejection;
  • request of patent certificate;
  • cancellation;
  • payment of annuities;

• Filling of patents under PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) and under CUP (Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property):
  • Preparing of descriptive report, payment of fees and filling international application;
  • translations;
  
  
• Filling of patent application National Phase (Brazil and abroad).
  • translations;
  • submission, management and follow-up of processes abroad;
  • payment of fees
  
  
  
  

Trademarks

• Filling and follow-up of applications:
  • in Brazil or abroad;
  • request for extension, response to oppositions, oppositions against third parties, appeals, request for register certificate, forfeiture, assignment;
  • maintenance and follow-up of granted register;
  • request of labels.
  
  
• Searches (INPI database)
  
  
• Geographical Indications
  

Business Intelligence (Strategic Information)

Accessing the on-line international databases (Dialog or STN) for the retrieval of information involving scientific, economical, commercial, financial questions, information about competitors and patents in Brazil or abroad. Some databases available for search:

Pharmaceuticals and Veterinary:

- Drug Information Full Text: cautions, chemistry, compatibility, concentration, dosage, drug interactions, mechanism of action, microbiological resistance, pharmacokinetics, pharmacology, preparations, stability, toxicity, uses, etc;
- Pharmaprojects: evolution of pharmaceutical company performance, drug names and synonyms, originating company, development status, licensees, therapeutic activity, pharmacology, descriptive text, development phases, adverse events, pharmacokinetics, therapeutic trials, development history, etc;
- Gale Group Health & Wellness;
- Medical Device Register: exclusive distributor, importer/exporter, manufacturer (direct, through distributor, etc), OEM (original equipment manufacturers), service direct (directly service their customer, etc);
- Incidence and Prevalence Database (IPD);
- Pharmacontacts: International Directory of Pharmaceuticals Personnel, companies, service, chemical companies, etc);
- IMSWorld R&D Focus: latest scientific and commercial developments in international pharmaceutical research and developments;
- Pharmaceutical News Index (PNI): current news;
- Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Industry News (PHIND);
- IMSWorld Pharm Search: pharmaceutical and healthcare company directory;
- IMSWorld Product Launches: monitors launches of new ethical pharmaceutical product introductions internationally;
- Life Sciences Collection: Worldwide research Literature: agricultural, animal, biochemistry, genetics, human genome, immunology, oncogenes, toxicology, virology and Aids abstracts);
- CAB Health: Infections, Aids Targeted Information, Nutrition (Human and Experimental), aromatic and medicinal plants, veterinary.

Medical:

- Extramed: much-neglected biomedical literature (World Health Organization);
- Allied and Complementary Medicine: alternative medicine and allied health (acupuncture, chiropractic, ayurvedic medicine, herbalism, homeopathy, meditation, osteopathy, podiatry, reflexology, yoga, Chinese medicine, etc);
- Mantis: alternative medicine;
- Biosis Previews, Medline, American Medical Association Journals, Embase, etc;
- Elsevier Biobase: entire spectrum of biological information;
- American Medical Association Journals: full text.

Business:

- Advertiser and Agency Red Books: business profiles, corporate linkage, account information for the world’s top advertising agencies and their branches, with listings of names and titles for 60,000 industry executives;
- Brands & Companies: worldwide directory;
- Business & Industry: facts, figures and key events - international;
- Gale Group New Products Announcements Plus: press releases from all industries;
- TableCase: tabular information dealing with companies, products, industries, brands, markets, demographics, and countries from around the world;
- D&B - International Dun''s Market Identifiers: directory listings, sales volumes, and marketing data for over 18 million establishments in nearly 200 countries;
- Gale Group Company Intelligence: current address, financial and marketing information;
- MG Financial/Stock Statistics: produced by Media General Financial Services (prices, moving averages, betas, daily price history for a full-year, etc);
- Standard & Poor''s Register: Corporate (company names and address, parent company name, telephone, business description, year started sales, number of employees, market territory, stock exchange, law firm, executives/officers, inside and outside directors);
- Market Guide Company Financials (US Co.);
- Harris Business Profiler (US Co. Only);
- Disclosure Database - D&B Dan''s Market Identifiers) business and financial information of US companies;
- Corp Tech Directory of US Technology Companies - American Business Directory;
- Asian Intelligence.

Food:

- Foodline: International Food and Drink Market Data, key markets, new product launches, consumer attitudes and tracking companny news;
- Foodline Legislation: additives, ingredients, composition and labeling legislation;
- Food Science and Technology: research and development literature;
- Thomas Register Online (Food);
- Foods Allibra™: aseptic packaging, biotechonology, commodities, company new annoucements, marketing news, new ingredients developments, nutritional, patents, processing and engineering methods, etc).

Chemicals:

- Directory of Chemical Producers Companies, a subsidiary of SRI International: international manufacturers and commercial chemical products;
- Chemical Abstracts;
- Chemical Business Newsbase;
- Biocommerce;
- Chemnames;
- Chemical Industry Notes (CIN): governmental and society, market, resources, people information, products and processes, organizations and institutions, unit costs and price information;
- Merck Index Online: monographs chemicals, drugs, biologicals;
- Beilstein Online: structures and properties of organic substances.

Agricultural:

- Agricultural: agriculture products, biotechnology, botany, cytology, energy engineering, forestry, hydrology, hydropomcs, pesticides, pollution, rural society, zoology, veterinary, etc;
- Wilson Biological & Agricultural Index: agricultural chemicals, agriculture, animal husbandry, biochemistry, biology, biotechnology, botany, cytology, ecology, entomology, environmental, fishery and food sciences, forestry, genetics, neuroscience, nutrition, soil science, veterinary, zoology;
- Pesticide Fact File;
- Agris International: agricultural sciences and technology.

Engineering & General:

- Metadex: Metals Science (alloys, steels, metals materials, processes, properties, products, forms, influencing factors, etc;
- Ei Compendex: engineering Index (aeronautical, bioengineering, chemical engineering, civil, electrical, electronics, computers, petroleum, optical, marine, naval, mechanical, automotive, mining, metallurgical, etc);
- Inspec: physics, electronics and computing (nuclear physics, optics, fluid dynamics and plasmas, atomic and molecular physics, etc);
- Fluidex: Fluid Engineering Abstracts.

Environment:

- Enviroline: environment management, technology, planning, law, political, science, economics, geology, biology, chemistry, etc;
- Environmental Bibliography.

Science:

- Meteorological and Geoastrophysical Abstracts: meteorology - weather and climate, astrophysics, physical , oceanography, hydrosphere and hydrology, environmental sciences and glaciology, etc;
- Oceanic: marine related subjects (biology, meteorology, geology, pollution, shipping, law, engineering and materials);
- Scisearch International®: multidisciplinary index (ISI®);
- Aerospace Database: aircraft designs, aerodynamics, space, propellants and fuels, materials, etc;
- Water Resources Abstracts: water-related topics in the life and physical sciences, engineering, legal, control, use, management of water;
- TULSA®: petroleum abstracts;
- Geobase: physical and human geography;
- Energy Science and Technology: DOE ENERGY;
- Electric Power Database: research and development projects;
- Aquatic Sciences Database and Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA): science, technology, management of marine, brackish water, freshwater environments and resources.

Others:

Piers Exports (U.S. Ports).

Patents:

Inpadoc (Legal Status), Derwent (International - patents family), Japio (Japanese Patents), USPatents, Chinese Patents Abstracts in English, Ei En Compass (Engineering Information), WIPO/PCT Informations, Derwent Drug Informations.

Deposit of biological material in culture collections

We offer a service of deposit of biological material in collection of cultures in International Depositary Authorities, in accordance with the international standards.
The Brazilian Industrial Property Law number 9.279/96 and the Legal Effect Measure 127/97 designates the procedures in the country concerning the biological materials which, at the act of patent application, are not accessible for public use or cannot be specified in a clear and sufficient way, as being indicated below:

According to the Brazilian Industrial Property Law no. 9.279/96:

Art. 24. The report has to describe the subject matter clearly and sufficiently in such a way as to allow its realization by an expert in that matter and indicate, should this be the case, the best way of execution.
Unique Paragraph. In the case of biological material, essential for the practical realization of the subject matter of the solicitation, that cannot be described in the way this article requires and that is not accessible for public use, the report will be supplemented by register of material in institution authorized by INPI or indicated in international agreement.

According to Legal Effect Measure 127/97:

16. SPECIFIC PROVISIONS OF THE BIOTECHNOLOGICAL AREA
16.1 REGISTER OF THE BIOLOGICAL MATERIAL
16.1.1 In the hypothesis stipulated in the unique paragraph of art. 24 of the LPI, the register of the biological material has to be effected in institutions resident in the Country, duly authorized by INPI, as per accreditation.
(...)
16.1.1.2 In case of non-existence of the institution in the Country, authorized by INPI or indicated as per international agreement in force in the Country, for registering the biological material, that is subject matter of the patent application, the solicitant may effect registration at any of the international registration authorities, accepted by the “Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure”.

A registration center of biological material, internationally recognized by the “Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure “, has to comply with the requirements established by the World Intellectual Property Organization – WIPO. summarized below:

▪ have permanent existence and provide the transfer of the cultures in case of cessation of activities;
possess a qualified staff and an appropriate infra-structure for both activities, scientific and administrative;
▪ be politically impartial and objective with regard to all registering entities;
▪ be available in any circumstances for all registering entities;
▪ determine the viability of the register and issue any necessary certificate of viability;
▪ be confidential with respect to the register, according to the regulation of the treaty;
furnish samples of microorganisms in an appropriate and efficient manner to the persons authorized by the holder of the patent, by written documentation;
▪ have a storing capacity for strains during a minimum period of 30 years or 5 years after the last solicitation of furnishing samples;
▪ offer sufficient safety mechanisms to minimize losses of samples.

Proceedings of Nullity or Forfeiture

Juridical actions of nullity or of forfeiture against third parties or sustained.

Contracts of technology transfer and correlations

• preparing and filling on INPI;
• response to Office Action;
• response to objection;
• information about contracts of any nature involving service rendering or research, aiming:
- exploitation of patents;
- use of mark;
- technology supply;
- service rendering of technical and scientific assistance;
- franchising.

Litigation of Patents or Trademarks

Registration of software

Register of domains

Copyrights Register

Integrated Circuit Topography Registry