WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/DS224/1
G/L/437
IP/D/24
G/TRIMS/D/18
7 February 2001
(01-0597)
Original:  English
UNITED STATES – US PATENTS CODE
Request for Consultations by Brazil
The following communication, dated 31 January 2001, from the Permanent Mission of Brazil
to the Permanent Mission of the United States and to the Chairman of the Dispute Settlement Body, is
circulated in accordance with Article 4.4 of the DSU.
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My authorities have instructed me to reques t consultations with the Government of the
United States pursuant to Article 4 of the Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the
Settlement of Disputes (DSU), Article XXII of  the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994
(GATT 1994), Article 64 of the Agreement on Trade- Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
(TRIPS Agreement) and Article 8 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures
(TRIMs Agreement), concerning the provisions of the United States Patent Code (United StatesCode – Title 35 – Patents), in particular those of Chapter 18 [38] – "Patent Rights in Inventions Made
with Federal Assistance".
Brazil detected several discriminatory elements in the US Patents Code, as illustrated by, but
not limited to, the examples below.
The United States Patents Code stipulates that no small business firm or non-profit
organization which receives title to any subject invention and no assignee of any such small business
firm or non-profit organization shall grant to any person the exclusive right to use or sell any subject
invention in the United States unless such person agrees that any products embodying the subject
invention or produced through the use of the subject invention will be manufactured substantially in
the United States.  In addition, each funding agreement with a small business firm or non-profitorganization shall contain appropriate provisions to effectuate the above-mentioned requirement.
The Patents Code also imposes statutory restrictions which limit the right to use or sell any
federally owned invention in the United States only to a licensee that agrees that any products
embodying the invention or produced through the use of the invention will be manufacturedsubstantially in the United States.
Brazil would be interested to examine these and other provisions of the US Patents Code in
consultations with the United States, with a view to understand how the United States justifies the
consistency of such requirements with its obligations under the TRIPS Agreement, especiallyArticles 27 and 28, the TRIMs Agreement, Article 2 in particular, and Articles III and XI of
GATT 1994.
We look forward to receiving your reply to the present request and to fixing a mutually
convenient date for these consultations in Geneva.
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