The Brazilian National Institute for Industrial Property (INPI) announced two new fast-track options for the examination of patent applications, which were effective starting yesterday, September 1. The first is available for applications covering “technologies already available in the [Brazilian] market”, while the second is directed to applications for “technologies resulting from [Brazilian] public funding.”
According to the new rules, a technology is considered to be “available in the market” when at least part of the claimed subject-matter has been licensed, put on sale, imported to, or exported from Brazil. The same rules also define that a technology is considered as “resulting from public funding” whenever the claimed subject-matter results entirely from efforts of Brazilian public entities to develop that matter.
With these two new options, INPI will now offer more than a dozen fast-track options to expedite examination of patent applications, including PPH programs with foreign patent offices and the green patents program (envirotech inventions). Thanks to RAFAEL SALOMAO (Daniel Law), Secretary of IPO’s Latin America Practice Committee, for submitting this update on behalf of the Committee.
Published on IPO. Read it here.