Open AccessINTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROTECTION AND DRUG PATENTS IN BRAZIL
Author(s) -
Fábio Tozi
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
mercator
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1984-2201
pISSN - 1676-8329
DOI - 10.4215/rm2020.e19021
Subject(s) - intellectual property , sovereignty , annulment , politics , political science , globalization , geopolitics , face (sociological concept) , law and economics , law , sociology , social science
The article aims to reconstruct the central events of the Intellectual Property (IP) protection system in Brazil, from the first colonial orders to the Intellectual Property Law (1996). Two periods are identified: in the first, we observe the internalizing of innovations, improving the country's development, but preventing the patenting of medicines and food. The second, recent, explains an adaptation of national laws to international ones, suppressing the previous exceptions. The historical change in regulations reveals that patents have become symbolic elements of globalization process. The geopolitics of this process is presented in a review on the influence of the US Special 301 Reports on Brazilian politics. Finally, the article seeks to show that politics is not limited to the legal system, presenting the annulment of patents in Brazil during public health crises. In this sense, the text brings elements of the international discussion on the suppression of patents to face the COVID-19 pandemic, updating the debate on territorial sovereignty.