The Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BPTO) recently disclosed the first edition of the Industrial Design Guidelines. These guidelines, which are available online in Portuguese, were published after a public consultation with IP practitioners in Brazil.
The guidelines are an important step for the BPTO to inform users of their internal procedures for analyzing design applications. Moreover, for the first time in Brazil, users will have a concise document that explains how designs should be filed, which had only been available prior in the form of multiple normative instructions, legal opinions and other disparate communications.
An improvement highlighted by the guidelines is the acceptance of figures that show how the claimed object can be used or applied. Previously, the BPTO had only accepted figures of the claimed object or ornamental pattern. These additional figures will be accepted provided that it is stated that they are not part of the scope of protection.
Other topics explained in the guidelines are, for example, the BPTO’s procedure for analysing priority right requests, the mandatory views required in the design application, among other matters.
Please contact us if you wish to know more about the Design Guidelines and other Intellectual Property rights.