Patent backlog: Cracking the toughest nut

As WIPR goes to press, Latin America’s largest economy has narrowly escaped falling into recession. While the meagre rise in gross domestic product (0.4%) rebuts speculation of a recession, it has also dampened optimism for future growth prospects. As an anaemic economy and political protests loom over the country, Brazil’s IP office is battling its own demons, in the form of an infamous patent backlog.