The Brazilian Federal Court of Appeals for the Second Region which covers the States of Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo has implemented since February 1st 2005 specialized panels and a section for the judgment of cases involving Industrial and Intellectual Property matters.
The Federal Court of Appeals for the Second Region is specially important for industrial property matters as the Brazilian Trademark and Patent Office is located in Rio de Janeiro and a significant number of cases involving cancellation of industrial property rights as well as court actions aimed to reverse rejection and cancellations of industrial property rights are decided by the Court.
Under the new organization, the Court of Appeals will be constituted by eight panels of three judges each and the first and second panels will be responsible for the judgment of cases involving industrial and intellectual property matters as well as criminal and social security cases.
The federal judges which will comprise the first panel are:
– The Honorable Judge Maria Helena Cisne
– The Honorable Judge Sérgio Feltrin
– The Honorable Judge Abel Gomes
The second panel will be formed by the following judges:
– The Honorable Judge Poul Erik Dyrlund
– The Honorable Judge André Fontes
– The Honorable Judge Reis Friede
The first section of the tribunal will be formed by both the first and second panels.
The specialization of the Court of Appeals for the Second Region follows a process initiated with the creation of specific federal courts of first instance to decide cases involving industrial property rights in the year 2000.
The specialization of the Federal Court of Appeals is hoped to increase both the quality and speed of the decisions in the industrial property area.
