Brazil will be able to break U.S. patents or suspend remittances from royalties on intellectual property under a decree issued today to allow retaliation against the U.S. in a dispute over farm subsidies.
Under the new legal framework, sanctions may be imposed by Brazil when the World Trade Organization gives authorization. Brazil may suspend or limit rights of intellectual property, break patents on inventions and breach rights related to confidential information, according to the decree by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The new law is another step by Brazil toward retaliation against the U.S., Foreign Minister Celso Amorim told reporters today in Brasilia. Still, he said, Brazil hopes it will be able to resolve the dispute without resorting to sanctions.
The WTO ruled in August that Brazil has the right to impose $294.7 million annually in sanctions because of subsidies paid to U.S. cotton farmers. The amount is the second highest ever permitted by the Geneva-based trade arbiter.
Brazil will seek to impose as much as $270 million in intellectual property sanctions, Marcio Cozendey, head of the economics department at the Foreign ministry, said Feb. 9. A group of ministers responsible for setting Brazil’s trade policy will release a list of goods that will face higher tariffs by March 1, Cozendey said.
The decree also lists the possibility of retaliation on literary and artistic works, software, industrial design, crops and vegetables and integrated circuits.
The decree, which allows Brazil to impose sanctions against any member of the Geneva-based WTO, goes into effect immediately and needs to be ratified by Congress to become standing law.
Brazil will be able to break U.S. patents or suspend remittances from royalties on intellectual property under a decree issued today to allow retaliation against the U.S. in a dispute over farm subsidies.
Under the new legal framework, sanctions may be imposed by Brazil when the World Trade Organization gives authorization. Brazil may suspend or limit rights of intellectual property, break patents on inventions and breach rights related to confidential information, according to the decree by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The new law is another step by Brazil toward retaliation against the U.S., Foreign Minister Celso Amorim told reporters today in Brasilia. Still, he said, Brazil hopes it will be able to resolve the dispute without resorting to sanctions.
The WTO ruled in August that Brazil has the right to impose $294.7 million annually in sanctions because of subsidies paid to U.S. cotton farmers. The amount is the second highest ever permitted by the Geneva-based trade arbiter.
Brazil will seek to impose as much as $270 million in intellectual property sanctions, Marcio Cozendey, head of the economics department at the Foreign ministry, said Feb. 9. A group of ministers responsible for setting Brazil’s trade policy will release a list of goods that will face higher tariffs by March 1, Cozendey said.
The decree also lists the possibility of retaliation on literary and artistic works, software, industrial design, crops and vegetables and integrated circuits.
The decree, which allows Brazil to impose sanctions against any member of the Geneva-based WTO, goes into effect immediately and needs to be ratified by Congress to become standing law.