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February 10, 2015

Newsletter 2015.02 – IP Licensing Pitfall in Brazil: Brazilian Antitrust Authority Releases New Rule on Contracts Subject to Prior Approval

A new resolution defining the legal concept of “associative contract”, which was issued last year by CADE (Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica) – the Brazilian antitrust authority – came into force in January 2015. According to the Brazilian current antitrust law (Law n. 12.529/2011), once other legal premises are met, such as annual revenue standards, “associative contracts” must be previously notified to and approved by CADE before being performed by the parties despite the fact that the Law does not clarify the meaning of “associative contracts”. Therefore CADE’s Resolução n°. 10 de 29 de outubro de 2014 is expected to eliminate the former legal uncertainty on which kinds of commercial agreements had to be submitted to CADE, a doubt that used to reach intellectual property licensing agreements.

Brazilian antitrust Law establishes that “acts of economical concentration” must be previously submitted to CADE’s approval before coming into force whenever (a) the annual gross revenue in Brazil of one of the parties involved is of 750 million BRL or more and (b) the annual gross revenue in Brazil of the other party is of 75 million BRL or more.

In addition to these parameters, section 90 of the Law lists the strict cases which shall be considered “acts of economical concentration”, the majority of which are related to mergers and acquisitions. Exception made to item (IV) which provides for the prior consent of CADE to “associative contract, consortium or joint venture” though without defining the meaning of “associative contract”, which could reach several agreements with no repercussion on market competition.

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November 22, 2016

IP Licensing In Brazil: Brazilian Antitrust Watchdog Reviews Its Rules On Agreements Subject To Prior Approval

It will come into force next Thursday (November 24, 2016) a new resolution issued by CADE (Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica), the Brazilian antitrust authority, that redefines the rules for the submission of “associative contracts” for prior approval.

September 28, 2016

The changes to Brazil’s Civil Procedure Code are welcome although it may take some years for them to be put into practice

After many years of scholarly and political debate within the National Congress, the new Brazilian Civil Procedure Code was passed into law last year and came in force in March 2016, replacing its 1973 predecessor. It is expected that the new rules of civil procedure will reduce litigation in Brazil by favouring alternative dispute resolution methods as well as by allowing and incentivising cooperation between the parties of lawsuits. In particular, we shall address some possible impacts for intellectual property litigation

July 1, 2016

Auto Parts: Brazilian Antitrust Authority Recommends the Sanctioning of Car Industries for IP Misuse Of Registered Industrial Designs

The Superintendency of the Brazilian antitrust authority (Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica – CADE) has recommended the sanctioning of three major automobile manufacturers for infringing the economic order on grounds of an alleged abuse of intellectual

property rights.