Important pharmaceutical IP issues at the fore in Brazil

Intellectual property IP matters are once again attracting the attention of the Brazilian population. This is mainly due to two important events to be debated this month that may affect the pharmaceutical industry and international trade.

According to the Ministry of Development, Industry and International Trade, CAMEX will make public this week the final list of the American products that will suffer a tariff increase of up 100% of their value when imported into Brazil. The US patents affected by the World Trade Organization's decision that allowed the Brazilian government to cross retaliate American IP rights will be also published.

Unofficial sources state that the retaliation list of products has been reduced from 220 to 130, since the government wants to prevent side effects, such as interference of import and export trade materials in Brazil, according to a blogger on the IP Tango web site. Furthermore, it is believed that the retaliation will not reach the maximum amount of $560 million on products and $270 million on services and IP rights, he noted.