Brazil: the Highway to patent applications

The longest 9 months I have encountered with!

The Brazilian Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial INPI has launched the "Prioritário BR". This project seeks to speed the patent application process. The aim is to analyse the patent in 9 months – for those applications that enter the project.

By Resolution No. 153/2015, the project targets Brazilian companies and investors that have made either an initial application for a patent in Brazil or have made the request abroad. There is no date restriction in this pilot phase for this ‘priority examination’ which has already started.

Once the patent is granted through this project, INPI informs that the Brazilian applicant may request ‘prioritization’ in the United States through the project called the "Patent Prosecution Highway" (PPH). Brazil is now studying other possibilities to expand this project to other jurisdictions.

Finally, INPI indicates that with this project Brazil is encouraging Brazilians to innovate.

“Applying for a patent abroad has great importance because protection is territorial, that is, countries where the patent was not applied for [the invention] can be used freely, can be copied without permission of the owner…according to 2014 data… nationals made 7,395 requests in the INPI and only 506 deposits in the international system Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), which sends the requests to more than 147 countries.”

Source INPI.