The Brazilian National Institute of Industrial Property of Brazil (INPI) officially joined the Global Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) programme on 1 January 2025, offering applicants new opportunities to obtain patents more quickly and efficiently in the country, as Eric Enderlin explains.
The Brazilian INPI offers several procedures to speed up the examination of patent applications. Since 1 January 2025, this also includes the Global PPH programme.
If the substantive examination of your Brazilian patent application has not started, you may be eligible for an accelerated procedure under the PPH. However, applicants are advised to act quickly since the Brazilian office limits the number of PPH applications each quarter.
Acceleration via the PPH programme
Certain conditions must be met to use the Global PPH, as well as other similar agreements signed in recent years with major patent offices; for example, the USA, China, Japan, Europe, UK, Denmark, South Korea and WIPO. In particular, the claims must be adapted to match those accepted or granted for an equivalent patent application in another country. Elements not covered by these claims may be the subject of divisional applications.
Please note that for the first quarter following the entry into force of this programme, patent applications relating to communications technologies will not be eligible for the PPH. However, the Brazilian office indicates that it will re-evaluate the program every three months, and this restriction could be lifted later.
Additional priority review options in Brazil
In addition to the PPH, the Brazilian office offers other accelerated examination procedures based on specific criteria, including for applications concerning:
- Public health: treatment and prevention of cancer, AIDS and rare diseases;
- Technological innovation in the Brazilian market: technologies or products already marketed in Brazil;
- Protection against counterfeiting: inventions marketed in Brazil by a third party without your authorisation;
- Green technologies: alternative energy, sustainable transportation, energy efficiency, waste management and sustainable agriculture.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
