Chavez Questions Patents, May Replicate Tetra Pak Technology
By Daniel Cancel

June 14 (Bloomberg) — Venezuela President Hugo Chavez questioned the validity of patents and said the government may replicate packaging technology of Switzerland’s Tetra Pak Group to lower dependence on imports and foreign companies.

Venezuela spent $63 million in May to import Tetra Pak packaging materials to supply the local market, said Jesse Chacon, Science and Technology Minister.

“We have aluminum and paper, why can’t we make that material here?” Chavez said today during his weekly “Alo Presidente” program on state television. “What are patents? That’s universal knowledge. We don’t have to be subject to capitalist laws.”

The Venezuelan leader also said the government will seize cardboard companies that refuse to supply packaging to state-run food companies. He didn’t elaborate.

Chavez, 54, has nationalized the energy, concrete, telecommunications, and steel industries as he seeks to construct a socialist state in Venezuela, the largest oil exporter in the Americas. The government also has seized large estates of land to boost agricultural output in an attempt to save hard currency on imports.

Chavez installed currency controls in 2003, and the bolivar has been pegged to the dollar at a rate of 2.15 since 2005.

Phone calls by Bloomberg News seeking comment from Tetra Pak’s corporate office in Switzerland and their local office in Caracas went unanswered after business hours.