Documents Submitted to WTO Dispute Settlement Body
Dispute Settlement Body
(February 1st, 2001)
Delegation of Brazil
Other Business
Brazil has detected several discriminatory provisions in the US Patents Code
(United States Code – Title 35 – Patents), in particular those of Chapter 18 [38]
– "Patent Rights in Inventions Made with Federal Assistance."
The United States Patents Code stipulates, for example, that no small business
firm or nonprofit organization which receives title to any subject invention and
no assignee of any such small business firm or nonprofit organization shall grant
to any person the exclusive right to use or sell any subject invention in the United
States unless such person agrees that any products embodying the subject invention
or produced through the use of the subject invention will be manufactured substantially
in the United States. In addition, each funding agreement with a small business
firm or nonprofit organization shall contain appropriate provisions to effectuate
the abovementioned requirement.
The Patents Code also imposes statutory restrictions which limit the right to
use or sell any federally owned invention in the United States only to a licensee
that agrees that any products embodying the invention or produced through the use
of the invention will be manufactured substantially in the United States.
In this sense, Mr. Chairman, Brazil has requested consultations with the United
States in order to examine these and other provisions of the US Patents Code, with
a view to understand how the United States justifies the consistency of such requirements
with its obligations under the TRIPs Agreement, specially Artilces 27 and 28, the TRIMs
Agreement, Article 2 in particular, and Articles III and XI of GATT 1994.