Currently, trademark applications have taken approximately 14 to 20 months to be decided by the BPTO. This timeframe is detrimental to applicants’ interests, as only upon the grant of the registration by the BPTO do applicants obtain ownership of the trademark and are able to fully exercise their rights over it.

In order to reduce this timeframe, the BPTO has been adopting several measures, such as, since 2022, the implementation of expedite examination in specific situations, related to the applicant’s condition (such as individuals over 60 years old, or those suffering from a serious illness or disability, or legal entities classified as “Inova Simples”) or to disputes involving the trademark (such as cases involving claims of prior use or ongoing litigation).

Expedite examination has proven to be an effective measure to significantly reduce the processing time of a trademark application. On average, the BPTO currently takes around 34 days to decide on a request for expedite examination.

According to Ordinance No. 66/2026, the BPTO has expanded the grounds for requesting expedite examination, including, among others, the following:

• Claim of prior use rights, raised by the applicant or by an interested third party in opposition proceedings;
• Trademark subject to lawsuit proceedings;
• Grant of the trademark registration as a condition for operating on a virtual platform;
• Grant of the trademark registration as a condition for obtaining public funding;
• Grant of the trademark registration as a condition for obtaining a permit, authorization or concession from public authorities;
• Trademark related to a product or service that is the subject of a patent application under expedite examination before the BPTO;
• Applicant classified as a start-up, as defined by law;
• Trademark subject to international certification via Madrid Protocol.

According to Ordinance No. 67/2026, a total of 3,000 (three thousand) expedite examination requests will be made available throughout 2026, limited to 1,500 (one thousand five hundred) per four-month period (from May 1 to August 31, 2026, and from September 1 to December 31, 2026), and to 10 requests per applicant.

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I- Normative Ordinance INPI/PR/DIRPA No. 01, dated March 4, 2026, which governs the procedures for withdrawal and abandonment of patent applications, renunciation of patents, and withdrawal of petitions before the BPTO; and

II- Normative Ordinance INPI/PR/DIRPA No. 02, dated March 6, 2026, which establishes guidelines regarding the processing and technical examination of patent applications before the BPTO.

Below we highlight the main aspects of the new regulations.

1-) Normative Ordinance INPI/PR/DIRPA No. 01/2026

Under the new regulation, a national patent application may be withdrawn by the applicant within 16 months from the filing date or the earliest priority date. After this period, the applicant may abandon the application at any time during its prosecution. This distinction is relevant: withdrawal aims to terminate the administrative instance without disclosure of the technical content of the application, whereas abandonment occurs at a later stage, when such confidentiality can no longer be preserved.

The Ordinance also provides that renunciation may be requested at any time during the term of the patent. Once approved, the patent will be deemed extinct on the date the renunciation request is filed, and the subject matter will fall into the public domain.

Other petitions filed in the course of the administrative proceedings may also be withdrawn at the request of the party who filed it, provided that the request is filed before the publication corresponding to the service requested.

It is important to note that the new regulation expressly prohibits withdrawal of the request for examination. This point is particularly relevant because, according to BPTO’s current practice, once examination has been requested, the applicant is no longer allowed to introduce voluntary amendments to the claims of the patent application.

2 -) Normative Ordinance INPI/PR/DIRPA No. 02/2026

The second Ordinance aims to standardize and enhance the transparency of internal examination procedures, governing the analysis of the main elements that compose a patent application, as well as the technical acts performed by the BPTO examiners during examination.

In summary, the new regulation consolidates guidelines regarding the conduct of the technical examination and the structuring of the examiner’s technical report, providing examples of how it should be organized, whether with respect to the assessment of the patentability requirements (novelty, inventive step and industrial application) or with respect to the citation of prior art references that may affect patentability.

The standardization of these acts is intended to increase the clarity of the BPTO’s decisions and facilitate the understanding of examiners’ communications by applicants and other interested parties, thereby contributing to greater legal certainty and predictability in the system.

The Intellectual Property team of Salusse, Marangoni, Parente e Jabur Advogados continuously monitors the BPTO’s regulatory updates and remains available to clarify any questions regarding the impacts of these new regulations on patent filing strategies and portfolio management in Brazil, through the e-mail pi@smabr.com or by phone +55 (11) 3146-2400.

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The main objectives of the BPTO for this year are the enhancement of its operational capacity and the modernization of procedures, with a view to reducing the decision-making time in Trademark and Industrial Design proceedings, including the following initiatives:

Industrial Designs (ID):

⇒A tool for image search based on artificial intelligence is under development, which will allow more accurate and faster searches. The expectation is that, in the future, substantive examination will be implemented for all ID applications, which would depend on an amendment to the Brazilian Industrial Property Law, which currently provides for examination only upon request (Article 106).

⇒Review of registrability requirements, for example, by relaxing the functionality criterion. Currently, the Brazilian Law prohibits the registration as an industrial design of an object whose shape is determined essentially by technical or functional considerations (Article 100, item II).

With the measures above, the BPTO seeks to harmonize the Brazilian system for the protection of industrial designs with international practices and to encourage the filing of ID applications by Brazilian companies.

Trademarks:

⇒Review of the procedure for the protection of Position Marks, currently considered by the BPTO to be excessively rigid and inadequate, in view of the low number of trademark registrations of this nature (only three). The examination of position marks is currently suspended until the procedure is reviewed and reformulated.

⇒Acceleration in the examination of trademark registration applications, including measures such as:

Ξ Expansion of the BPTO’s staff, scheduled for the second half of 2026, granting the BPTO greater operational capacity.

Ξ Automated actions for process clearance, such as the publication of office actions in trademark applications whose applicant has an inactive or cancelled corporate taxpayer registration, with the aim of reducing the backlog of pending cases.

Ξ Incentives for simplified opposition (a measure currently in force), aiming to reduce the amount of time required from by the BPTO examiners for the analysis of facts and arguments.

With these measures, the BPTO expects to increase the number of trademark applications decided per year (440,000 decisions in 2025 and an estimated 540,000 in 2026) and to reduce the waiting time in the examination queue.

Watch the full presentation at the following link.

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This regulatory milestone acknowledges that the legal frameworks of Brazil and the EU provide an equivalent level of protection to personal data subjects. As a result, it establishes a solid legal basis of trust and legal certainty for international data transfers between these jurisdictions.

Although certain legal formalities will still be required in cases involving the sharing of personal data, many of them will be significantly simplified, including, for example, the elimination of the need for standard contractual clauses pre-defined or approved by the Brazilian Authority, as well as the need to conduct technical audits.

With reduced bureaucracy and lower digital compliance costs, the measure is expected to accelerate business activities and strengthen commercial and technological relations, creating further opportunities for Brazilian companies to operate in the European market and vice versa.

The decision applies to the 27 Member States of the European Union as well as to the countries of the European Economic Area (Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway), covering a total of 30 jurisdictions. In practical terms, this represents a significant impact, as Brazil and the EU now form the world’s largest secure data-flow area, reaching approximately 700 million people.

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According to the ranking, our team stands out for their technical precision and proactive risk management, with quick responses and strong commitment to their clients’ interests, recognizing Wilson Pinheiro Jabur as a respected authority in IP litigation and enforcement; Fabio José Zanetti de Azeredo as a reference for his strategic counsel in complex trademark matters; and Beatriz Fernandes Caldin praised for her attention to detail, deep knowledge of trademark laws, and ability to provide effective and personalised solutions.

We thank our clients and partners for their trust, and thank our team for their support. We remain committed to delivering excellence in Intellectual Property matters!

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We are very much looking forward to meeting our IP clients and colleagues from around the world.

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Published by the World Trademark Review (WTR), this guide recognizes the world’s leading trademark experts and has included our professionals Fabio Azeredo and Wilson Pinheiro Jabur in its 2025 edition. The WTR 1000 is widely acknowledged as one of the most prestigious directories in the field.

According to the ranking, our firm is described as “exceptional at handling complex cases and devising winning strategies. A go-to for trademark issues, clients are particularly impressed by its practitioners’ business- and client-oriented approach to oppositions, appeals, searches, and negotiations.”

 This recognition reinforces our ongoing commitment to excellence in legal services. Congratulations to Fabio and Wilson on this outstanding achievement!

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The ruling upheld the understanding that had been adopted by the Brazilian Superior Court of Justice (STJ) with respect to Article 11 of the “Marco Civil da Internet” and Article 18 of the Budapest Convention. The Articles allow Brazilian authorities to request information directly if the data collection or processing is carried out in Brazil, the possession or control of the data is held by companies with legal representation in Brazil, and in cases of crimes committed by individuals in the Brazilian territory.

The award was also forwarded to the Legislative and Executive branches in order to enable them to introduce legislative improvements, such as the draft of the General Data Protection Regulation for Criminal Purposes and multilateral agreements to obtain data and electronic communications, such as the U.S. Cloud Act.

In the lawsuit, the “Federação das Associações das Empresas de Tecnologia” pursued the constitutionality of provisions for international legal cooperation, challenging the possibility of direct requests under Article 11 of the Marco Civil da Internet and Article 18 of the Budapest Convention. The reasoning was grounded on the assumption that Brazilian jurisdiction over the Internet should be governed by the territoriality principle, which imply the enforcement of the Brazilian Decree No. 3.810/2001, the Article 237, II, of the Code of Civil Procedure, and the Articles 780 and 783 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. These articles constitute a framework for international legal cooperation in order to obtain evidence located abroad (expedition of letters rogatory, unilateral or multilateral agreements, and others).

On the other hand, the Brazilian Judiciary also showed some difficulties related to the data stored or transferred abroad, as well as to the fact that the data is commonly protected and any interception carried out is ineffective due to the sophisticated cryptography. The understanding of the Brazilian Supreme Court, therefore, established to what extent the Judiciary may request companies, such as social networks or email and messaging providers, to grant Brazilian authorities access to private communications and data stored abroad, outlining relevant issues related to the fundamental rights of privacy and data security.

Foreign companies largely argue that data may only be disclosed to other States under international collaboration agreements for evidence sharing. The concern of these companies with the direct requests is that they could be exposed to the legal regime of the country that issued the judicial order in the absence of any international cooperation protocol, thus paving the way for possible abuses and bringing with it the risk of exposing them to violations of the data protection regulations of the country where they are headquartered, which could jeopardize their business models.

To address the issues above, the Brazilian Supreme Court ruled that restricting Brazilian jurisdiction over the Internet would undermine the effectiveness of ongoing investigations in Brazil, with consequences for the prosecution of cybercrimes and with further implications for public safety and for the protection of fundamental rights. On the grounds of Article 18 of the Budapest Convention (Brazilian Legislative Decree No. 37/2021) and Article 11 of the Marco Civil da Internet, the Brazilian Supreme Court has defined the criteria for extending Brazilian jurisdiction, such as in the event that the collection and processing of data occurs in Brazil, the possession or control of the data is carried out by companies with representation in Brazil, and in the case of crimes committed by individuals in the Brazilian territory. These cases emphasize the phenomenon of “territorialization” of cyberspace, widely discussed in international law.

In brief, the Brazilian Supreme Court held that the direct request rules contained in the Marco Civil da Internet and the Budapest Convention are specific when compared to the other rules and standards of international legal cooperation, as long as at least one of the events cited above has taken place in the Brazilian territory and the legal entity holding the data is located or stores the data in a foreign country. Through the recognition of the specific rule, the direct request of data, records and electronic communications related to actions taken within Brazil is now authorized for Brazilian authorities. For cases that are not covered by Article 11 of the Marco Civil da Internet and Article 18 of the Budapest Convention, the appropriate legal instrument is still the international legal cooperation and the traditional procedural measures, such as letters rogatory.

The Civil and Intellectual Property teams of Salusse, Marangoni, Parente e Jabur Advogados would be pleased to assist you and answer any questions you may have by the following emails: w.jabur@smabr.com, e.guedes@smabr.com, l.dias@smabr.com, v.ueda@smabr.com.

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Pursuant to the program, a Brazilian patent application may be eligible to undergo through PPH examination if the following requirements – among others – are met:

⇒ There must have been a decision to grant issued by a foreign authority associated with the BPO in connection with the same family of patent (currently the following authorities have agreements in force: Austria, China, Denmark, Europe, France, Japan, Portugal, Spain, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, United Kingdom and United States); or a favorable International Preliminary Report on Patentability (IPRP) issued in connection with a correspondent PCT application;

⇒ The Brazilian application must claim subject matter equal to or more restrict than that allowed by the foreign authority;

⇒ The program will be effective until December 31, 2025 or a total of 800 requests have been filed – whichever occurs first – or, in case of IPRP, a total of 100 requests have been filed;

⇒ There are other limitations that apply, e.g., only one request per applicant may be filed per week, and a limit of 250 requests per year per category of the International Classification.

It is known that the BPO has been dealing with a huge backlog of cases for many years. However, several measures have been effectively taken in order to accelerate the examination of applications, which resulted in the decrease of the backlog from approximately 140,000 cases to 11,871 in the past three years (last update December 28, 2022).

In this sense, the PPH program has proven to be extremely successful, since it usually takes to the BPO approximately 150 days to issue a first examination on PPH requests, instead of the regular average of 4 years.

There are other ways for requesting an expedite examination of a patent application, such as (1) if the pending application is being infringed by a third party in Brazil; (2) if the subject matter of the application refers to treatment of Covid-19; (3) if the subject matter of the application refers to green technologies; among others.

Our Intellectual Property team is available to assist and clarify any doubts you may by e-mail pi@smabr.com or by phone +55 (11) 3146-2400.

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