Brazil Proposes IPR and Service Retaliation Against U.S. in WTO Cotton Dispute
Brazil's Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC) has posted the Foreign Trade Chamber's (CAMEX) request for comments on possible areas for retaliation against U.S. intellectual property rights and services, due to the U.S.' noncompliance in the World Trade Organization upland cotton dispute.1
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CAMEX Will Consider Comments, Select IPR/Service Countermeasures
CAMEX seeks comments by April 4, 2010 on 13 proposed countermeasures in the area of IPR and services. After analysis of the comments received, the Brazilian Government will select a set of measures from among those proposed that will complement the countermeasures in the area of goods which were made public on March 8, 2010.
(On March 8, 2010, MDIC issued a list of U.S. products that are set to be subject to increased duties on April 7, 2010 due to the cotton dispute and noted that it would soon seek comments on a second round of WTO-authorized retaliation worth as much as $238 million on IPR and services. See ITT's Online Archives or 03/09/10 news, 10030910, for BP summary.)
Temporary Removal of Patent Rights for Medicine, Chemicals, Etc.
Based on an unofficial translation, the proposed retaliatory measures would include removal, for a certain amount of time, the period of protection of patent rights for products or processes related to:
medicine, including veterinary medicine;
agricultural chemical products;
biotech agricultural products;
The measures would also include the removal for a certain amount of time, the period of IPR protection accorded to authors of music played for public purposes.
Patent License Issuance Without Owner Authorization or Payment
In addition, the measures call for patent licensing for the following products or processes without owner authorization or payment: medicine, including veterinary medicine; agricultural chemical products; biotech agricultural products; literary works; and certain audiovisual products.
(See CAMEX notice published in the Dirio Oficial for complete list of proposed measures, in Portuguese.)
Brazil Open to Negotiated Solution
CAMEX again reiterated that Brazil remains open to a negotiated solution with the U.S. to resolve the issue.
1In August 2009, the WTO authorized Brazil to impose millions in countermeasures against the U.S. due to its failure to comply in the U.S.-Brazil cotton dispute. (See ITT's Online Archives or 09/01/09 news, 09090110, for BP summary.)
(See ITT's Online Archives or 03/08/10 news, 10030815, for BP summary of Brazil announcing it had finalized its retaliation list on U.S. products, and the U.S. stating it was sending two high level officials and would propose solutions to resolve the dispute.)
MDIC press releases (in Portuguese, dated 03/15/10) available at http://www.mdic.gov.br/sitio/interna/noticia.php?area=1¬icia=9655 and http://www.mdic.gov.br/sitio/interna/noticia.php?area=1¬icia=9657
MDIC press release (in English, posted 03/16/10) available at http://www.mdic.gov.br/arquivos/dwnl_1268689199.doc
CAMEX request for comment, (in Portuguese, Dirio Oficial, published 03/15/10) available at http://www.in.gov.br/imprensa/visualiza/index.jsp?jornal=1&pagina=2&data=15/03/2010