At the end of 2024, on December 6, the conclusion of the partnership agreement between the European Union and Mercosur was announced. The agreement aims to bring the economic blocs closer together and strengthen economic, commercial and political relations between their member countries. With the conclusion of the text, the countries must now sign and ratify the agreement for the provisions of the legal document to come into effect.<\/p>\n
Initially, it is important to contextualize that the agreement between the two blocs seeks to expand political and economic cooperation. This will occur through the alleviation of tariff and bureaucratic barriers, facilitating investments and establishing trade rules between the blocs. Among the aspects covered by the partnership agreement, there is a chapter devoted entirely to intellectual property, as well as measures that stimulate trade, research and common development between the regions through the protection of rights over intangible assets.<\/p>\n
The Association Agreement between Mercosur and the European Union dedicates a relevant part of the intellectual property chapter to the protection of patents and industrial designs, aiming at normative harmonization and strengthening technical cooperation between the Intellectual Property Offices of the countries involved, such as the National Institute of Industrial Property (BPTO) in Brazil and the European Patent Office (EPO).<\/p>\n
Regarding patents, the agreement reinforces commitments already made under the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), and seeks to advance the mutual recognition of good practices in patent examination, which can accelerate the granting of rights and provide greater predictability to investments in innovation.<\/p>\n
Quanto aos desenhos industriais, o texto incentiva os pa\u00edses membros do Acordo de Haia a aderirem ao Ato de Genebra administrado pela Organiza\u00e7\u00e3o Mundial da Propriedade Intelectual (OMPI), permitir\u00e1 que empresas dos dois blocos possam registrar seus desenhos com um \u00fanico pedido internacional, e usufruir dos acordos tarif\u00e1rios, e padroniza\u00e7\u00e3o dos processos em cada um dos blocos (OMPI, 1999).<\/p>\n
Esses dispositivos proporcionam seguran\u00e7a jur\u00eddica e reconhecimento rec\u00edproco, ampliando o potencial de investimentos estrangeiros diretos (IED) em setores intensivos em propriedade intelectual, como o farmac\u00eautico, automotivo, de moda, design e tecnologia. Segundo dados do Itamaraty e do Minist\u00e9rio do Desenvolvimento, Ind\u00fastria, Com\u00e9rcio e Servi\u00e7os (MDIC), estima-se que a implementa\u00e7\u00e3o plena do acordo poder\u00e1 beneficiar mais de 20 mil empresas brasileiras com voca\u00e7\u00e3o exportadora, principalmente as que atuam com produtos inovadores e diferenciados (BRASIL, 2025) (INPI, 2025).<\/p>\n
With regard to trademarks, the agreement reinforces the rules of the Paris Convention on well-known trademarks, seeking to recognize trademark registrations made both in the European Union and in Mercosur. In addition, it emphasizes compliance with the procedure stipulated by the World Intellectual Property Organization regarding the Madrid Protocol, as well as the implementation of the provisions of the Nice Agreement regarding the sectorized classification for the operation of registered trademarks. In principle, reinforcing these compliances would be a precaution so that the signatory countries of these treaties are in harmony and their Trademark Offices \u2013 such as the INPI \u2013 can communicate with the least possible noise.<\/p>\n
Still on trademarks, in a general aspect, the provision for cooperation between customs foresees that the incentive to use electronic monitoring systems reduces the levels of piracy in imports and exports between the countries of the two blocs.<\/p>\n
Finally, regarding Geographical Indications, the agreement is categorical regarding the mutual recognition of GIs protected in Mercosur and the EU, with an annex that specifies details of the Indications already protected and that must be recognized by all countries involved in the agreement.<\/p>\n
With the completion of the text, exceptions were included for users prior to the recognition of a given GI. This makes it possible, for example, for a trademark already granted in Brazil not to be extinguished for possibly violating the rights linked to a GI protected in another country.<\/p>\n
Mercosur's strategic position amid trade tensions between China and the United States<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>In the current context of prolonged trade tensions between the United States and China, South America has been seen as a viable geoeconomic alternative for foreign direct investment and for the redesign of production chains. According to the 2024 report of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the region has benefited from the so-called \u201cnearshoring\u201d and \u201cfriendshoring\u201d strategy, which seeks to diversify suppliers with greater political stability and regulatory affinity (ECLAC, 2024).<\/p>\n The European Commission itself, in a 2023 note, recognized South America (especially Brazil) as an \u201cessential strategic partner\u201d in the green and digital transition, highlighting its agricultural, mineral and industrial potential, in addition to its relevance in global issues such as biodiversity and renewable energy. The Itamaraty, in turn, stated that the agreement with the EU \u201cpositions Mercosur as a reliable and attractive platform for preferential access to two of the largest markets in the world\u201d (EUROPEAN COMMISSION, 2023).<\/p>\n Therefore, in addition to aligning standards and facilitating bilateral trade, the agreement can reposition Mercosur as a hub of stability and innovation, strengthening its attractiveness in an increasingly fragmented global scenario (BRASIL, 2025).<\/p>\n In conclusion, the Association Agreement between Mercosur and the European Union represents a milestone in strategic integration, with the potential to expand trade, attract investment and strengthen the protection of intellectual property. By harmonizing standards and reducing barriers, the agreement favors the competitiveness of South American economies and offers legal certainty to innovative companies. In this context, Mercosur emerges as a solid alternative to the uncertainties of global geopolitics, especially amid the trade war between China and the United States.<\/p>\n Based on the above and considering the constant changes in the international plan, Le\u00e3o is available to explain the advantages that intellectual property brings.l<\/strong>, especificamente desenvolvida e compreendida dentro do seu contexto empresarial, pode trazer \u00e0 sua empresa no Brasil e internacionalmente.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n por Ellen Rodrigues Soares e Silva & Gabriel Conci<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n References:<\/p>\n BRASIL. Minist\u00e9rio das Rela\u00e7\u00f5es Exteriores. Acordo Mercosul-Uni\u00e3o Europeia. Dispon\u00edvel em: https:\/\/www.gov.br\/mre\/pt-br. Acesso em: 2 jun. 2025.<\/p>\n BRASIL. Minist\u00e9rio do Desenvolvimento, Ind\u00fastria, Com\u00e9rcio e Servi\u00e7os. Com\u00e9rcio exterior. Dispon\u00edvel em: https:\/\/www.gov.br\/mdic. Acesso em: 2 jun. 2025.<\/p>\n CEPAL. Comiss\u00e3o Econ\u00f4mica para a Am\u00e9rica Latina e o Caribe. Relat\u00f3rio econ\u00f4mico 2024. Dispon\u00edvel em: https:\/\/www.cepal.org\/pt-br. Acesso em: 2 jun. 2025.<\/p>\n COMISS\u00c3O EUROPEIA. Acordo de Associa\u00e7\u00e3o com o Mercosul: documento institucional. 2023. Dispon\u00edvel em: https:\/\/ec.europa.eu. Acesso em: 2 jun. 2025.<\/p>\n OMPI. Ato de Genebra do Acordo de Haia relativo ao Registro Internacional de Desenhos Industriais (1999). Genebra: Organiza\u00e7\u00e3o Mundial da Propriedade Intelectual, 1999.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" No final de 2024, no dia 06 de dezembro, foi anunciada a conclus\u00e3o do acordo de parceria entre Uni\u00e3o Europeia e Mercosul. O acordo tem como finalidade a aproxima\u00e7\u00e3o entre os blocos econ\u00f4micos e o estreitamento de rela\u00e7\u00f5es econ\u00f4micas, comerciais e pol\u00edticas entre seus pa\u00edses membros. Com a conclus\u00e3o do texto, agora os pa\u00edses dever\u00e3o […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leao-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leao.adv.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leao.adv.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leao.adv.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leao.adv.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leao.adv.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10723"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/leao.adv.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10724,"href":"https:\/\/leao.adv.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10723\/revisions\/10724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leao.adv.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leao.adv.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leao.adv.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}