The Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BPTO) published today an ordinance establishing that, as of January 1, 2026, it will suspend the acceptance of all priority and fast-track examination requests, including the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH), for patent applications whose main classification is H04 (Electrical Communication Technique). While PPH requests for H04 applications have already been exhausted for 2025, other fast-track mechanisms remain available only until the end of this year, making the coming weeks the only available window, under the current framework, for telecom applicants seeking accelerated examination in Brazil.

According to the Institute, the measure aims to optimize workload management within the technical divisions responsible for examining telecom-related inventions, allowing for a more balanced distribution of examination demands while preserving examination quality and procedural efficiency across all technological fields.

Key Details of the Restriction

Affected Classification
• All patent applications classified under H04 (Electrical Communication Technique) will be subject to the suspension of priority examination requests.

Fast-Track Examination Modalities Affected
• The suspension applies to all modalities of priority and fast-track examination, including the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH).
• The following statutory categories remain exempt from the suspension:

• elderly applicants,
• applicants with disabilities,
• applicants with serious illnesses, and
• Brazilian startup applicants.

Procedural Effects of Inadmissibility
• If a priority or fast-track examination request is deemed inadmissible under the new limits, the patent application will continue under regular examination procedures.
• Any amendments or modifications to the patent application filed together with an inadmissible priority examination request will not be taken into consideration.
• Upon request by the applicant or its representative, the official fees paid for inadmissible priority examination requests may be refunded.

Other Existing Limits
• The global caps applicable to the PPH program (e.g., 3,200 requests per year) remain unchanged.
• Notwithstanding the global limits, once the suspension takes effect, priority examination requests will no longer be accepted for applications classified under H04, regardless of the availability of global quotas.

Effective Date
• The suspension of priority examination requests for H04 applications will take effect on January 1, 2026.

Future Availability
• Due to the high concentration of filings in the telecom sector and the sustained demand for accelerated examination, the BPTO has stated that there is currently no forecast for reopening priority examination slots for H04-classified applications.
• Any changes will be communicated once internal planning is completed and a new regulatory act is published.

DANIEL’s Perspective
According to Gustavo Sartori, partner at DANIEL, the measure reinforces the importance of strategic planning in telecom patent prosecution:

“The suspension of priority examination requests for applications classified under H04 should lead companies and intellectual property teams to reassess their filing timelines and acceleration strategies. For example, it may be possible to anticipate the filing of the request for examination, since the examination queue is organized according to the date on which the request for examination is filed. However, this strategy must take into account the limitations imposed on voluntary amendments and divisional applications after the filing of the request for examination. In any case, we will monitor whether there are developments in the backlog for this international classification and work with the BPTO and other industry associations to try to identify other viable solutions.”

Pedro Altoé, patent specialist at DANIEL, adds that the ordinance provides important procedural clarifications and reinforces the importance of timing:

“The ordinance establishes that all priority examination modalities for H04 applications will be suspended as of January 1, 2026, and further clarifies that inadmissible fast-track requests will have no procedural effect beyond regular prosecution, including the disregard of any amendments filed together with such requests. From a risk-management and timing perspective, applicants seeking accelerated examination for telecom patents should therefore carefully assess whether to submit any available fast-track requests before the end of 2025, while the current framework remains applicable.”

DANIEL continues to closely monitor developments at the BPTO and remains available to assist clients in evaluating the impact of the suspension and in defining prosecution strategies for telecom patent portfolios in Brazil.