New Patent Examiners and Priority Examination

Since the GATT/TRIPS agreement (1995), and the country’s new Industrial Property Law (1997) took effect in Brazil, the number of patent applications filed in Brazil has risen significantly. This has been especially intense in the chemical area, most notably pharmaceuticals, where chemical processes and products became patentable after having been excluded from protection under the previous law. Consequently, the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BPTO) is facing a high number of patent applications awaiting examination and a considerable backlog of such applications, around 100,000 cases.

In order to accelerate the processing of these pending patent applications, the BPTO recently announced that 235 new examiners were hired to work during the years 2006 and 2007. The new examiners come from a variety of technical backgrounds (chemistry, mechanics, power, electronics, telecommunications and engineering in general, among others) and are currently in training to help reduce the backlog of unexamined patent applications. Obviously, the current number of technical requirements and decisions will be upheld for a period (namely, during the new examiners’ training), but a significant increase in the number of office actions and decision notices is expected for 2007.

In addition, the BPTO is now evaluating the possibility of setting new guidelines for prioritizing examination of certain patent applications. No such rules are in place at this time, because the corresponding Regulatory Act (AN 152) was cancelled. Although there has been no decision on the matter, the goal is to establish criteria for prioritizing examination, at least for certain special patent applications. Such treatment would be pertinent, for example, in the cases of applications involving violations of the corresponding product or process, or products being launched on the market. Our office will promptly report any further developments in the mechanisms for prioritizing examination of patent applications.

Assuming these advances are in fact implemented, the future should bring more expedient patent processing, a sharp reduction in the number of pending, unexamined patent applications and special mechanisms for priority examination of certain special patent applications.