Patent Registration in Brazil

Procedure steps for Patent request at the INPI, normal processing stages and foreseen costs.

Patent protection in the national territory is provided by the INPI (National Industrial Property Institute), in accordance with article 5 of Law 9,279 of 05/14/96 – For legal purposes, industrial property rights are considered personal property. This protection gives rise to patient right to exclusivity, and once it is conferred, it becomes property of the holder.

Patent is everything that is new or an improvement of something that already exist, with these basic requirements: innovation, inventive activity and industrial application, and can be requested as follows:

IP – Invention Privilege, valid for 20 years;
UM – Utility Model, valid for 15 years.

From request to concession, patent processing in Brazil consists of the following stages:

1 – Patent research in the INPI database, in order to detect occasional restrictive prior issues; this expedient is prudent, nevertheless it is optional.

2 – Patent request protocol, approximately 60 days after protocolization.

3 – Patent request is published 18 months after protocolization, if the holder is interested, the publication might be brought forward (randomly), after this stage, interested parties can submit complementary information to the test.

4 – A Technical Test is required to be performed within 36 weeks from the date of patent deposit

5 – Patent concession takes place in approximately 5 to 10 years, in case of refusal, an appeal might be lodged. In both cases, the period consists of 60 days for due compensation collection

6 – Letters patent concession, picked up at the INPI and delivered to the holder.

From the third year of patent request, federal fees of annual patent dues are collected.

All patent-related orders are monthly published in the Industrial Property Journal (RPI by its acronym in Portuguese) and we will communicate all issues in connection with your patent, for it to be always in order.

In some cases, there could be opposing arguments, resources and administrative cancellations requested by third parties related to your patent.

Documents necessary for patent registration in Brazil:

Individual:

• Copy of Individual Taxpayer ID
• Copy of Personal ID Card
• Power of Attorney

Corporation:

• Copy of the Articles of Incorporation
• Copy of Personal ID of Responsible Person
• Power of Attorney

We will produce the draft of the descriptive report and designs through the prototype or report of the patent to be requested. Thereafter, we will send the interested party to approval and posterior protocolization at the INPI.

For any patent related information, contact us today at: [email protected]