The patent as a source of information which might generate new patents on favorable circumstances and context is the object of this research. Supported by theoretical framework of the Information Science, this study identifies the factors/agents intervening in the Brazilian patent process, ie, the relations flow from patent-as-information-source and production-element of new knowledge, to the obtaining of a new patent. The research sample is constituted by public and private institutions, represented by education and research units located in Brasilia, Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro. The interview is the method used for data collection; and the results are analyzed by categories.. The results were obtained by comparisons between the theoretical (ideal) model and the real model, the latter was drawn from the statements found in the research subjects' interviews, therefore, from their professional experience. It was found that government, educational, and research institutions, public and private as well, besides the Brazilian patents' system and the economic market, all exert substantial interference on the patent flow. The results allow the conclusion that, in Brazil, the patent is not currently perceived as necessary information in order to produce technology and innovation. Thus, in order to reach the real transference and transformation of patent/information into new knowledge, Brazilian society needs to go beyond the current politics of intent discourse, to a new political phase. This phase should be one of actions to be accomplished through the coordination among actors with common objectives; these should be such to induce investors into taking into consideration the society needs.
Scientific and technological information; patent; scientific and technological management; technology transference