The Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BPTO) released the action plan for 2022 with goals and initiatives that will guide the work of the Institute throughout the year. It was defined 34 performance goals and 30 strategic initiatives for the period.
Goals for 2022 seek rates above 10% for the growth of filings in PI assets more demanded by society. The list below shows the main numbers compared to 2021:
• 11% in patent applications.
• 14% in trademark applications.
• 10% in applications for industrial designs.
• 233% in geographic indications applications.
• 10% in computer program applications.
Among the strategic initiatives to optimize time, quality, and legal certainty in the process of granting intellectual property rights, the BPTO highlighted (i) intensifying the engagement against patent backlog which started in 2019; (ii) developing a patent search outsourcing model; and (iii) stimulating projects that aim the improvement of the automation of patent examination flow and patent decisions.
The goal revealed in the document is to reduce the time for examination of IP applications, increasing the production and efficiency of the process. Considering the 2016 backlog residue, the forecast of time for examination of the applications by BPTO are:
• Industrial design applications decided in 4 months.
• Trademark applications with no opposition decided in 9 months.
• Trademark applications with opposition request decided in 18 months.
• Patent applications decided in 3.8 years.
Another strategic objective is to integrate Brazil as a winning country in the International Intellectual Property System. Among the initiatives is the adherence to the Hague Agreement, the world’s industrial design registration platform, offering more accessibility to national and foreign applicants.
The plan warned of the cut in 51% of the expected budget of discretionary spending, which went from $ 70 million to $ 34 million Brazilian reais. However, there were updates that increased the budget availability to $ 54 million, still with an expectation of complement that can materialize until August 2022. Thus, the BPTO maintains transformative initiatives such as the BPTO BUSINESS PROGRAM and the PI Digital Program, with the execution of improvement projects, management, and critical support processes to ensure operational and organizational efficiency.