Brazil: Resolution INPI/PR No. 241/2019 of July 3, 2019, regulating Preliminary Requirements for Examination of Pending Patent Applications, with Prior Art Searches [...]

August 1, 2019

Brazil: The National Intellectual Property Institute (INPI) issued Resolution INPI/PR No. 241/2019 of July 3, 2019, which entered into force on July 22, 2019, and Resolution INPI/PR No. 240/2019 of July 3, 2019, which entered into force on August 1, 2019, in order to reduce the number of patent applications pending examination, and to repeal Resolution INPI/PR No. 227/2018 of October 25, 2018.

Resolution INPI/PR No. 241/2019 of July 3, 2019, provides for a streamlined examination of pending patent applications for which search reports have already been issued by foreign patent offices and/or international or regional organizations; Resolution INPI/PR No. 240/2019 of July 3, 2019, regulates the examination procedures of pending patent applications that lack such prior art search reports.

The new procedures do not apply to pending patent applications that:

(i) have been submitted to the first technical examination carried out by INPI;

(ii) are subject to any type of priority examination by INPI;

(iii) contain observations by the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (ANVISA) or third-parties; or

(iv) were filed after December 31, 2016.