Examining the Implementation of a European Patent Management System in Brazil from an Actor-Network Theory Perspective

Drawing upon the Brazilian experience, this article aims at examining some of the key issues associated with e-government technical cooperation programs designed to enhance the service provision of Patent Offices in developing countries. In order to do that, this work adopts the Actor-Network Theory as a framework for understanding the processes of transferring e-government technologies from the European Patent Office (EPO) to the Brazilian Patent Office, which is locally called Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial (INPI). This longitudinal study aims to contribute to the limited empirical evidence surrounding technical cooperation involving Patent Office organizations. Our findings suggest that gaps and conflicts among the existing national laws and policies, duration and type of historical interactions among EPO and INPI, as well as differences in the Information Technology infrastructure and capabilities of the participating organizations are the key issues in e-government technology transfer between EPO and INPI.