The year of 2018 was marked by harsh criticism on how the
Government was dealing with the Brazilian Patent Office's (BR
PTO) backlog problem. However, since January 1st, 2019 Brazil has a
new president, Mr. Jair Bolsonaro, establishing a new political
environment. Aligned with the campaign promises, the Brazilian PTO
no longer reports to the Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and
Services, but to the newly created, particularly powerful, Ministry
of Economy (which now includes Planning and Foreign Trade). The BR
PTO is under the Special Secretariat for Productivity, Employment
and Competitiveness, led by Carlos Alexandre da Costa, a former
member of the transition team of the new president. On January
8th, 2019, the Ministry of the Economy announced the
nomination of Mr. Cláudio Vilar Furtado as the new President
of the Brazilian Patent Office. Mr. Furtado is an economist with
Doctoral Degree in Business Administration and, aligned with the
premises of the new
