A Journey of 29,000 km, and Still no Patent
05 December 2012
A November Washington Post story illustrated just how far some people will go to secure a patent for a new invention.
When Paulo Roberto Vieira, 58, arrived in Washington in late October, he had travelled nearly 29,000 km (18,000 miles), through 11 countries, from his home in southern Brazil – on a motorcycle.
Vieira told the Post that on his four month journey he had ridden alone for more than 3,000 km on mostly unpaved roads in the Amazon and crossed Mexico three times while sorting out US visa issues. He changed his motorcycle’s oil 29 times, went through four tires and two rims and used more than 1,000 litres of fuel. He told the newspaper that he held out hope that President Barack Obama would be able to help him.
“I decided to come here because Washington is where things get done,” he said. “Barack Obama is already solving so many other problems, how much more trouble would it be for him to solve mine?”
The newspaper reported that in the mid-1990s, Vieira had invented a device that detects low tire pressure and alerts drivers with an alarm. He registered a patent for it in Brazil in 1999, and has since waged a consuming battle for international validation of his rights as the inventor, particularly in the United States, where a similar accessory is made under a US patent.
Vieira left his hometown of Campinas on June 25 for Brasília, where he hoped the Brazilian government could solve his problem once and for all. But after several fruitless days spent sparring with bureaucrats, the Post reported, Vieira decided there was only one place to go for satisfaction – Washington.
From the road, Vieira called his youngest daughter to inform her of his change in plans. She tried to talk him out of it.
“I cried and begged him for the love of God not to go, but he went anyway,” Camila Souza Vieira told the Post. “When he gets an idea in his head, no one can change his mind.”
Vieira planned to return to Brazil, again by motorcycle, and said he would return to Washington again to take up his patent battle.
He told the Post that he would probably fly the next time.