Prosur is a solid model of cooperation for the development of IP in the region
Since 2009, when the proposal to create a technical cooperation system for Latin America that would promote integration, especially in the field of industrial property, was launched, nine countries put all their efforts in a single objective: the support among Nations through the exchange of information on trademarks, patents, geographical identifications and appellations of origin.
The Cooperation System on Managerial Information and Industrial Property-Prosur, which nowadays includes Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic and Uruguay, is a worthy initiative that needs to be internationally highlighted as it is an important step for industrial property and remains a key element for the generation of knowledge and regional trade exchanges. That is why Prosur is a relevant platform for the multilateral exchange of experiences and ways of promoting industrial property, as the initiatives of each country can be emulated by members, generating better results together.
It is gratifying to unite the Latin American Industrial Property Offices under this System, which has held several meetings, such as the one that took place in September 2016 in the city of Santa Marta, Colombia, where a joint statement of members gave rise to the implementation process of the Patent Prosecution Highway Pilot Program (PPH) in its Mottainai and PCT modalities.
This Program allows applicants who have been granted a favorable examination report on patentability from a Previous Examination Office, to benefit from the work done at that office and request that the report be taken into account by the other Industrial Property Offices of the countries involved as Post Review Offices.
This will speed up the Office’s patentability examination process and reduce associated costs, avoiding duplicate administrative, search and patent examination efforts by each Office.
This statement strengthens the cooperation commitments and joint development among Prosur’s IP Offices with the objective of promoting the use of the industrial property system as a strategic tool to promote innovation, competitiveness and entrepreneurship, favoring innovators, scientific community, business, SMEs and universities in Latin America.
On the other hand, PROSUR will offer other products of great utility to users of the Industrial Property system such as: search tools of technologies in the public domain, trademark searchers for image recognition, classifiers for goods and services trademarks, maps of geographical areas with products protected by appellations of origin and statistics of use of national industrial property systems by nationals of each PROSUR member.
Prosur is today, seven years after its creation, an unquestionable reality ready for the service of all our users and a great example of a joint effort between many Industrial Property Offices, not only South American but also Latin American. Congratulations!
