Brasília, September 26, 2025 – Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) has spotlighted the growing competition and innovation challenges surrounding Standard Essential Patents (SEPs), holding a public seminar to debate how these patents influence market dynamics in Brazil.
Organized by CADE’s Department of Economic Studies (DEE), the seminar — part of the agency’s Economics and Competition Defense series — brought together policymakers, economists, and intellectual property experts to examine how SEPs, which protect technologies embedded in international standards such as mobile networks and Internet of Things (IoT) systems, can both stimulate innovation and risk anticompetitive outcomes.
CADE President Gustavo Augusto opened the discussion by underscoring that while the patent system is vital for incentivizing innovation, SEPs require special scrutiny. “When exclusivity covers technologies essential to global standards, it can distort markets. SEPs may block new entrants and create monopolistic conditions that harm competition and slow innovation,” Augusto warned.
Gerson Benia, coordinator for Market Studies and Competition Advocacy at CADE’s DEE, presented key findings from the report. He explained that patents traditionally reward inventors with temporary exclusivity to encourage R&D, but when a patent becomes essential to a global standard, its holder can leverage disproportionate control — for example, by imposing high royalties or restrictive licensing terms that deter competitors.
Experts noted that the issue has gained importance in Brazil, one of the world’s largest technology markets. The rapid digitalization of sectors such as telecommunications, healthcare, and retail has increased dependence on standardized technologies — and, by extension, on SEPs.
Drawing from international experience, Juliana Ghizzi, Director of Intellectual Property Policy at the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services (MDIC), emphasized that global regulatory collaboration is key to improving Brazil’s policy framework.
“Understanding what is being done abroad helps us refine our own regulatory environment. Brazil’s National Intellectual Property Strategy already includes action plans addressing SEPs and standardization,” she said.
The hybrid event, streamed live with simultaneous translation, followed the publication of CADE’s study “Contributions from CADE: Standard Essential Patents”, which analyzes the competitive implications of granting exclusive rights over technologies that have become indispensable for global interoperability.
CADE’s report, now available for public consultation, is expected to guide future policy and enforcement discussions on how Brazil can foster technological progress while preventing SEP-related market distortions.
