To extend or not to extend--the question that the Brazilian STJ has answered several times.

The Brazilian Instituto Nacional da Propriedad Intelectual (INPI) informs that the Brazilian Superior Court of Justice (STJ) denied on February 8, 2011, extending the period of two patents relating to drugs Sifrol (used to fight Parkinson's disease) and Persantin (against thrombosis).

This decision follows the understanding of the STJ regarding the pipeline system. The STJ has in several occasions rejected the extension of patents such as: Viagra, Lipitor, Gleevec, and Plavix.

The pipeline system refers to a mechanism established by Brazilian Intellectual Property Law 1996. It refers to the protection of inventions of pharmaceutical and chemical patents that could not be registered before under the old legislation. This considers the possibility of protecting under the patent system chemical substances, compositions and products, through a ‘pipeline’ mechanism, which should be counted from the ‘first filing’ abroad. Through the mechanism, the patent would have a year to be made to the INPI and worth the time remaining in the country where it was ‘first file’ and its validity cannot exceed 20 years.