On December 15, 2021, the Brazilian PTO published Ordinance No. 055 establishing the beginning of phase III of the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Shared Examination Pilot program. As for phase II of the aforementioned project, in this new phase, the Brazilian PTO announced changes to some requirements and procedures related to the request for the PPH.

The aforementioned Ordinance, which is in force since January 1st, 2022, states that in this new phase the examination results of international applications that are part of the Patent Cooperation Treaty will be accepted as a basis for applying for the PPH program. Considered as a great new measure for the processing of the PPH Program in Brazil, it makes the application for accelerated examination of Brazilian patent applications even more viable. Nevertheless, the limit established for this modality is only 100 applications per annual cycle.

In addition, in phase III of the PPH Program in Brazil is the increasing in the limit of applications admitted for this program to 800 applications per year, while during phase II the established limit was up to 600 applications per annual cycle. However, it is worth mentioning that there was no change in the application limit per IPC section, wherein only 150 applications per section per year will be allowed. Likewise, the limit of one application per Applicant per week remains the same.

Phase II of the PPH program also establishes that the priority request of patent applications that have been modified or divided between the PPH application date and the publication date of the first technical office action will be revoked.

Finally, it is further pointed out that, now, in phase III, it is not possible to file an appeal against any type of decision issued by the Brazilian PTO in connection with the request for the PPH Program.

For further information regarding phase III of the PPH program, please do not hesitate to contact us.