Most lawsuits against the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BRPTO) are filed before the federal district courts in Rio de Janeiro, where the Office is headquartered and four courts specialized in IP law are in charge of handling such cases. So far this year, at least 46 lawsuits regarding intellectual property rights were filed against the BRPTO before the Federal Court System of Rio de Janeiro.Twenty-two IP lawsuits were filed against the BRPTO in January and 24 in February. The numbers below show that most of lawsuits address trademark related issues.
The BRPTO’s omission and unreasonable delays were addressed to the Court in two writs of mandamus in January and two in February. In general, IP owners request the Court to compel the BRPTO to examine their applications, administrative appeals and other petitions in the file wrappers and to do so in a reasonable time. Federal trial Judges have frequently ruled in favor of the plaintiffs.If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact us at prevail@lickslegal.com.