Brazil's Senate Approves Patent Bill

Brazil's Senate has approved patent legislation to bring Brazilian legislation into line with World Trade Organization requirements, voting 43-l1 in favor of treating it as urgent. The bill, which permits patents for pharmaceuticals, chemicals and foodstuffs for the first time, now goes to the floor of the Chamber of Deputies for a final vote.

There are two other versions of the bill. Senator Fernando Bezarra's has a pipeline provision making protection retroactive and covering developed but as-yet unmarketed products, while Senator Ney Suassuna's is seen as more nationalistic, and excludes both pipeline protection and patent protection for biogenetic products.