The pipeline mechanism is an institution created by the Industrial Property Law that allowed the filling of patents in technological fields that, prior to 1996, had not yet been granted in Brazil. The mechanism made it possible to obtain patent protections for pharmaceutical and food products (among other products). The requests for patents via the pipeline mechanism are only subject to a formal analysis and they follow the terms of the patent granted in foreign countries. They are not submitted to a technical evaluation of the product’s ability to meet patentability requirements – novelty, inventiveness and industrial application – conducted by the Brazilian patent office, the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI in Portuguese).