By Brazil Stock Guide – Brazil’s Pix instant-payment system will be recognized as a high-renown brand by the National Institute of Industrial Property, or INPI, granting its name and symbol expanded legal protection across all areas of economic activity.
The announcement was made Wednesday (10) by Márcio Elias Rosa, Brazil’s minister of Development, Industry, Trade and Services, according to the ministry. Pix, created by Brazil’s central bank, will become the first brand linked to the federal government to receive the designation.
“Under the Industrial Property Law, this is the highest protection that can be granted to a brand and its symbol,” Rosa said during a meeting of the Council for Sustainable Economic and Social Development in Brasília.
High-renown status is granted to brands that are widely known by the public and have built reputation, prestige and trust over time. Because such brands extend beyond their original market segment, they receive special protection under Brazil’s Industrial Property Law, Law No. 9,279/1996.
The key effect of the recognition, provided for in Article 125 of the law, is that the brand is protected in all branches of economic activity. In practice, Pix will have broader safeguards regardless of the specific class of products or services under which it was originally registered.
The recognition is scheduled to be published Tuesday (16) in the Industrial Property Gazette, the official publication used by INPI to disclose its decisions.
US Criticism of Pix
The recognition comes days after the Office of the United States Trade Representative, or USTR, criticized Brazil’s Pix system in a June 2 statement, alleging that the national payment technology unfairly harms US companies that provide electronic payment services.
According to the report, companies affected by Pix’s market position would include Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA), Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) and WhatsApp Pay, a service linked to Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META).
“Brazil’s acts, policies and practices related to the preferential treatment granted to Pix are unfair and discriminatory. It is unfair to require competitors to offer advantages to Pix, such as availability, visibility and fee limits, and Brazil discriminates against US electronic payment service providers by granting those advantages only to the national market leader [Pix],” the USTR document said.
The US criticism underscores the growing commercial and regulatory relevance of Pix, which has become a central part of Brazil’s financial infrastructure since its creation by the central bank.
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