Re:Brazil does use "First to File" (Score 1)

The law is from may 1996, but I believe it was already "first to file" way before that - brazilian institutions are usually much closer to their european counterparts than to US ones. But of course Brazil is a signatory of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, so owners of a patent in other signatory countries have a one year grace period to file the same patent in Brazil. The situation you refer to is most likely a result from this Paris Convention rule.