Paraguay - Protecting Intellectual PropertyParaguay - Intellectual Property

The United States and Paraguay signed a Memorandum of Understanding on IPR in June 2015, under which Paraguay committed to taking specific steps to improve its IPR protection and enforcement environment. Additionally, the MOU solidifies bilateral cooperation by which the United States supports Paraguay’s efforts to strengthen the legal protection and enforcement of IPR.  Since coming into office in 2013, President Cartes has escalated enforcement efforts in Paraguay, primarily through the National Directorate of Intellectual Property (DINAPI) and partner law enforcement agencies.

Ciudad Del Este has been named in either the USTR Notorious Market List or the Special 301 Report for over 15 years. The lightly monitored border crossing from Ciudad del Este to Foz do Iguacu, Brazil allows the distribution of counterfeit and pirated products in the Brazil-Argentina-Paraguay tri-border region and beyond.

Concerns remain about inadequate protection against unfair commercial use of proprietary test or other data generated to obtain marketing approval for agrochemical or pharmaceutical products and the shortcomings in Paraguay’s patent regime. Law 3283/07 and Law 3519/08 (1) require pharmaceutical products and agrochemical products to be registered first in Paraguay to be eligible for data protection; (2) allow regulatory agencies to use test data in support of similar agricultural chemical product applications filed by third parties; and (3) limit data protection to five years.  Additionally, Law 2593/05, which is the latest modification of Paraguay’s patent law, has no regulatory enforcement mechanism.  Because of this, foreign pharmaceutical companies have seen their patented products openly replicated and marketed under other names by Paraguayan pharmaceutical companies.

Paraguay has ratified all of the Uruguay Round accords, including the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), and has ratified two World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) copyright treaties. For additional information about treaty obligations and points of contact at local IP offices, please see WIPO’s country profiles.

In any foreign market companies should consider several general principles for effective management of their intellectual property. For background on these principles please link to our article on Protecting Intellectual Property and also Corruption.

IP Attaché Contact for Paraguay:

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