On December 27, 2022, the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BPTO) published Ordinance no. 78, which implements phase IV of the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot project, as well as Ordinance no. 79, which implements updates in other modalities for the unified fast-track program of patent applications. Both Ordinances will enter into force as from January 1st, 2023.
Ordinance no. 78 increases to 250 the limit of requests in the same IPC section per year, maintaining the total request limit in 800/year, which may be submitted between January 1st, 2023 and December 31, 2025. The other relevant information concerning PPH remains unchanged.
In turn, Ordinance no. 79 combines all the fast-track modalities covered by Ordinances no. 53 and 54 (now revoked). Furthermore, it implements the following modifications:
- There is no time limit for submitting requirements in modalities “Technology Made Available in the Market” and “Technology Supported by Public Funding”, neither limit for requests per week/year;
- As to Startup Applicants, the owner now must attend to the provisions of Article 4 of Supplementary Law no. 182/2021, namely, being a business/corporate organization, nascent or in operation recently, which develops innovation in business models, products and services;
- The modality “Technologies for Health Treatment” has been expanded, so as to cover technologies for treating COVID-19.
For further information, please contact us at patents@murtagoyanes.com.br.