On May 08, 2018, the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BPTO) published Resolution No. 218/18, which established Phase II of the Patent Prosecution Highway Pilot Project (PPH) between the BPTO and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
This new phase will run from May 10, 2018 to April 30, 2020 or until 200 applications are accepted under the USPTO-BPTO PPH, whichever occurs first.
The main difference that Phase II of the USPTO-BPTO PPH brings to the project is the expansion of the technologies accepted in the program: patent applications related to information technology are now accepted, as well as patent applications belonging to oil, gas and petrochemical inventions.
Some other requirements for taking advantage of the BPTO-USPTO PPH Phase II are: the patent application must be published, the examination must be requested and should not have started, annuities must be paid and current, the specific fee to participate in the PPH program must be paid and the requisite form completed, in addition to the patent application not ever having been the object of any litigation in Brazil.
This PPH is part of a series of accelerated examination programs for patent applications aiming to reduce the growing backlog at the BPTO. The BPTO also has PPH agreements in force with the Japan Patent Office (JPO), PROSUL (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay), the European Patent Office (EPO), and the State Intellectual Property Office of the P.R.C. (SIPO – China), and is in the preparation phase of other agreements with the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) and the Danish Patent and Trademark Office (DKPTO). The BPTO further intends to enter into new agreements this year with Russia (ROSPATENT), South Korea (KIPO), Israel (ILPO) and Mexico (INPI), as indicated in its 2018 action plan.
For more information about the PPH between the BPTO and USPTO, as well patents and other PPHs, please feel free to contact us.
