A General Overview of the Brazilian Intellectual Property Landscape in 2026

Hiago de Borba Busch

IP Litigation Lawyer - Partner at Montaury Pimenta Machado & Vieira de Mello

Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) are experiencing unprecedented momentum in Brazil. In 2025, the country recorded historic highs in both filings and grants, underscoring the growing importance of innovation in its economy. National and international businesses alike are recognizing that safeguarding intangible assets is not just a legal formality, but a decisive competitive advantage for thriving in the Brazilian market.

IPRs soared in 2025

According to the official numbers released in the December issue of the IP Monthly Journal of Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial -  Brazilian Patents and Trademarks Office (“BPTO”), the number of filings and granted applications was substantial. 

Patent filings reached 29,557 applications; a 6.7% increase compared to 2024—the best result since 2016. Trade mark filings reached 504,461 applications, an increase of 7.9%—the best result ever, surpassing 500,000 applications for the first time in history. There were also 9,872 applications for industrial designs (growth of 35.7%) and 7,236 for software (growth of 36.2%).

The number of granted IPRs also increased: 13,624 patents (5.5% increase compared to 2024), 176,559 trademarks (6.3% increase), 8,456 industrial designs (106.6% increase), and 6,892 computer programs (35.1% increase). 

This surge reflects a broader transformation: Brazil’s economy is modernizing, with industries increasingly driven by creativity, technology, and innovation. Even amid global economic turbulence, Brazil has emerged as a strategic jurisdiction for IP protection, aligning itself with the practices of leading economies worldwide. 

Related to this significant increase in IP expansion in Brazil, there are some recent developments that are noteworthy and show also good signs of development and improvements:

Patents

Some of the highlights of the patent landscape are the following:

Standard Essential Patent litigation surge 

Brazil’s SEP (standard-essential patent) landscape had interesting developments in 2025. What had long been a long-promising—but relatively contained—jurisdiction for SEP enforcement became, last year, a more visible and systematized venue for global strategies. 

Brazil’s standard-essential patent (SEP) landscape saw significant advances last year. The country´s patent litigation ecosystem evolved over the past year into a relevant and strategic venue for global enforcement strategies, with several different cases that became central to cross-border IP protection strategies.

Throughout 2025, more than 40 SEP-related judicial actions were filed, with claims involving requests for preliminary injunction, FRAND offers, and royalty payments. Some of the past year’s remarkable cases were Huawei vs. MediaTek (4G/LTE mobile network connectivity patent), IPBridge vs. BYD (4G mobile network connectivity patent), JVC v. Hisense (patent relating to video files coding and decoding standards), the H.265/HEVC standard, and InterDigital vs. Disney (patent relating to video files coding and decoding standards).

Brazil is not yet a major jurisdiction for IP litigation, like the USA, UK, Germany, and China, it has become an influential player in global negotiations for SEP industries. The country is widely regarded as pro-patent, with a judiciary that delivers technical and faster decisions, particularly fast preliminary injunctions, treats SEP patents as any other patent, and without additional procedural distinctions, reducing excessive delays and strengthening its role in the international IP landscape.

Budapest Treaty

Last October, Brazil officially filed its instrument of accession to the Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for Patent Procedure at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva, thus becoming the 92nd contracting party to the Treaty.

This important step enables Brazil to designate local institutions as International Depositary Authorities (IDAs). This will strengthen Brazil’s patent relevance in the biotechnology sector, reducing costs and logistical barriers for national or locally based researchers and inventors who need to file a biological material for patent applications.

BPTO's new fee structure and costs

After more than a decade without significant changes, the BPTO released Ordinance No. 110. This regulation entered into force last August 7th and changed fees structure and costs for patent applications. The office eliminated some fees, namely the grant fees, created some new fees (such as the withdrawal of appeals and petitions), and increased overall costs in the patent application (up to approx. 24% in some cases).

Examination Guidelines on Artificial Intelligence 

The BPTO has opened a public consultation on the draft guidelines for the examination of patent applications related to artificial intelligence (AI). The draft addresses several issues, mainly related to authorship, patent eligibility, and how to assess inventive step and sufficiency. The period to submit comments expired last October, and now the BPTO is evaluating the contributions to further improve the draft before it becomes effective, which should not take long. 

These new specific guidelines are going to bring transparency and consistency to how the Office will be examining AI-related inventions.  An important milestone that will certainly help to foster AI patent protection in Brazil, making AI asset protection clearer and more predictable, will create fertile grounds for AI technology business growth, bringing consequent development of AI business in the country.

Trade marks

Key recent developments in trademarks include the following:

BPTO's new fee structure and costs

As mentioned above, the BPTO Ordinance No. 110 that entered into force last August 7th has also changed fees structure and costs for trademark applications.

Among the substantial changes, the end of the grant fees stands out, as well as the creation of new services. There was a significant overall cost increase in the trademark application procedure in view of the creation of a single initial fee that covers filing costs as well as the first ten years of the registration (in the event the application is granted). Another noteworthy aspect is that BPTO lost the opportunity to introduce fees for the long-awaited multi-class application, which remains unavailable for national applicants. 

Extended options for Trademark Fast Track applications 

Another relevant change was the release of the updated fast-track procedure in trademarks, allowing certain applications to be examined more quickly.

BPTO issued its Ordinance No. 27/2025, which became effective in August 2025, and expanded the options for fast-track trademark applications. There are now two main types of fast-track applications: 

(i) by legal provision, such as in the cases of people with disabilities or with serious illnesses, the elderly, or smaller startup companies under the government Innovation simplified regimen.

(ii) by strategic objective or public policy, such as Scientific, Technological and Innovation Institutions, startups, or individuals mentored by the BPTO; cases involving the release of public funds; situations of public interest or national emergency; Owners of products/services stemming from fast-track patent applications; parties involved in judicial proceedings; and opponents invoking the right of precedence.

This strategic update is very relevant to such specific urgent situations, marking a shift toward a more efficient trademark examination, which may have a huge impact for applicants facing challenges in cases of commercial urgency, investment rounds, public projects, or riskier scenarios. This initiative reflects a key shift towards streamlining trademark prosecution in Brazil, aligning the IP system with technological innovation and national policy priorities.

Extended Options for Trade mark Fast Track Applications

A major development in 2025 was the expansion of Brazil’s trademark fast-track procedure. With the issuance of BPTO Ordinance No. 27/2025, effective August 2025, applicants gained broader access to expedited examination.

The updated framework now recognizes two main categories of fast-track applications:

• By legal provision – covering cases such as individuals with disabilities or serious illnesses, the elderly, and small startups under the government’s simplified innovation regime.

• By strategic objective or public policy – including Scientific, Technological and Innovation Institutions, startups or individuals mentored by the BPTO, applications tied to public funding, matters of public interest or national emergency, products/services linked to fast track patent applications, parties in judicial proceedings, and opponents invoking the right of precedence.

This reform is particularly significant for applicants facing commercial urgency, investment rounds, public projects, or high-risk scenarios. By streamlining trademark prosecution, Brazil is trying to create a friendlier and more cost-effective IP system to allow the growth of business and economic players relying on intangible assets, modernizing the country’s IP ecosystem.

Acquired Distinctiveness

In November 2025, the BPTO implemented Ordinance No. 15/2025, introducing for the first time the possibility of arguing acquired distinctiveness through use during trademark examination. This reform closes a long-standing gap in Brazilian practice and represents a major regulatory milestone.

Applicants may now raise the acquired distinctiveness argument when inherent distinctiveness is not enough. The acquired distinctiveness argument may be raised only at specific stages of the procedure: (i) at the time of filing the trademark application; (ii) within 60 days of the application’s publication; (iii) when appealing a rejection; (iv) in responses to oppositions or administrative nullity proceedings.

To succeed, applicants must provide evidence that the mark has been used significantly and continuously for at least three years prior to filing, and that a substantial portion of the relevant public associates the sign uniquely with the applicant, distinguishing its goods or services from those of other players.

This development strengthens Brazil’s trademark system by bringing it closer to international standards and offering applicants a clearer path to protect marks that have gained recognition through market use.

Opposition 2.0

Another notable recent change was the introduction of a new streamlined opposition mechanism, known as Opposition 2.0. BPTO created this new opposition option designed to make the process simpler and faster, but only in cases of oppositions based on Article 124, XIX of the Brazilian IP Law—that is, when the opposition relies on the existence of a prior registered trademark that would block the grant of a new application. The decision will be issued a lot faster as the procedure will be fast-tracked, but this path will have important limitations, particularly because it allows invoking a maximum of five prior trademark registrations, and it does not allow opponents to develop legal arguments. There will be no possibility to draft arguments, but only fill in forms with limited text space.

Despite these restrictions, the procedure offers a low-cost alternative, making it an attractive option for straightforward cases where speed and efficiency are critical.

Final thoughts

Brazil’s intellectual property landscape underwent meaningful modernization in 2025, marked by record filing activity, an updated regulatory framework, procedural improvements, and relevant litigation cases across patents, trademarks, and other IP rights. These developments signal a more efficient, transparent, and innovation-oriented system, strengthening Brazil’s position as a strategic jurisdiction for global IP protection. As the country continues aligning its practices with international standards, businesses and innovators can expect a more predictable and supportive environment for developing and safeguarding intangible assets.