2025: The year in review

Robert Pocklington Vicente

IP expert at the Latin America IP SME Helpdesk

A new Christmas is around the corner, and we wanted to share with you the main news coming from Latin America regarding Intellectual Property in 2025. The two main news items this year have been Brazil joining the Budapest Treaty and Chile joining three treaties (Locarno, Nice, Vienna), and one more (Strasbourg) next year.  Another piece of late news is the entrance of DINAPI Paraguay as part of the TMview database.

Since 2021, the Latin America IP SME Helpdesk has provided its IP Yearly reviews, where EU SMEs may check what news may be beneficial to their business when internationalising to Latin America. These changes primarily benefit EU SMEs when internationalizing to this region, and that is why we are analyzing certain decisions that have achieved significant progress on this path towards the development of IP in Latin America.

So why don’t we grab a mug of Glühwein near a Christmas market and discuss how the year 2025 has been in the region of Latin America? 

Treaties

• Chile joined 3 WIPO classification treaties:

  The Locarno Agreement is an international classification used for the purposes of the registration of industrial designs.

  The Nice Agreement establishes a classification of goods and services for the purposes of registering trademarks and service marks (the Nice Classification).

  The Vienna Agreement establishes a classification (the Vienna Classification) for marks that consist of, or contain, figurative elements.

  Furthermore, Chile will join the Strasbourg Agreement in July 2026, and it is progressing towards joining the Patent Law Treaty (PLT) in the future.

   

Patents

• Brazil joined the Budapest Treaty. The Budapest System provides a practical mechanism when pursuing patent protection of inventions involving biological material in many countries. The premise of the mechanism is the recognition of a single deposit of a microorganism with an international depositary authority throughout the countries that are parties to the system. The Budapest Treaty will enter into force in Brazil on January 20, 2026.

• INPI Brazil has joined the GPPH as of 1 January 2025. The Global Patent Prosecution Highway is a multilateral programme that involves 27 intellectual property offices. It aims to speed up the processing of patent applications by sharing examination results between offices.

   

Trade marks

• DINAPI Paraguay has joined the TMview trade mark search tool. The TMview database is an online consultation platform managed by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). It collects and provides free-of-charge access to trade mark applications and registrations of the participating trade mark offices, including the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

Industrial designs

• DINAPI and the EUIPO are working on a new Industrial Design Law in Paraguay. The National Directorate of Intellectual Property (DINAPI) and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) are collaborating on a new Industrial Design Law draft in Paraguay, aimed at updating and modernizing it to align with international standards.

   

Copyright 

• Colombia joined the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled. Colombia has become the 99th member of this Treaty.

Any other news

• Costa Rica and EUIPO signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen cooperation in intellectual property. The agreement focuses on trade marks, designs, IT systems, and training programs.
• The European Commission proposed the Mercosur and Mexico agreements for adoption. The EMPA will put an end to unfair competition by Mercosur products that imitate authentic EU products by protecting 344 EU Geographical Indications. The MGA will expand protection from imitation to 568 iconic traditional high-quality European food and drink products (Geographical Indications). The EMPA and the MGA require separate approval by the European Parliament and Member States before they can each enter into force.
• Chile ranked #1 in Latin America according to the GII 2025. The Global Innovation Index (GII) ranks the most innovative economies and reveals the world's top 100 innovation clusters. It highlights global innovation trends based on investment patterns, technological progress, adoption rates, and socioeconomic impacts. Chile ranked 51 globally, followed by Brazil (52) and Mexico (58).

• Uruguay’s DNPI joined WIPO’s DAS as an Official Access and Depositing Office. The Digital Access Service (DAS) is an electronic system managed by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that allows for the secure exchange of priority documents (and similar materials) between participating intellectual property offices. The service applies to documents related to patents, utility models, industrial designs, and trade marks.

   

Contact us

Latin American countries are increasingly committed to achieving improvements in their respective laws on Intellectual Property. If you don’t want to miss any of the future good news about IP in the region, we suggest that you subscribe to our newsletter. 

Should you have any questions after reading the “2025 year in review” article, submit your enquiry to our Helpline service. It’s free, offered in English, French, German, Spanish, and Portuguese, and we will get back to you within 3 working days.

“May all your Christmases be white.”

The Latin America IP SME Helpdesk Team