INPI Brazil has joined the Global Patent Prosecution Highway

On 6 July 2024, Brazil's National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) joined the Global Patent Prosecution Highway (GPPH), a multilateral programme managed by the Japan Patent Office and involving 27 intellectual property offices. The GPPH aims to speed up the processing of patent applications by sharing examination results between offices.

Until now, INPI Brazil had bilateral Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) agreements with 23 national or regional offices. With its accession to the GPPH, this number will increase to 35. This includes countries such as Germany, Israel, Australia, Russia, Iceland and Hungary, with which Brazil did not have previous agreements.

The current rules of the PPH, under INPI/PR Ordinance no. 78/2022, will remain in force until new regulation is published. Under the current rules, patent applications must belong to a patent family whose oldest application has been filed with the INPI or a partner institute acting as a national office, regional office or under the PCT. Examination results from new partner offices can only be used after the publication of the new rules.