Brazilian PTO issues a statement on the application of the new Industrial Designs Manual

On October 3, 2023, the Brazilian Patent and Trademarks Office published in its official website as well as in the Official Gazette how the 2nd ed. of the Industrial Designs Manual (in force since October 2, 2023) should be applied to pending cases.

The Office noted the following:

a) An official action is issued according to the guidelines in force at the time of its publication;

b) The evaluation of a reply to an official action is carried out according to the guidelines in force at the time of exam regardless of the date of publication of the official action or the filing date of the reply;

c) During the examination mentioned in item b), any drawings, photographs and other information, whether from the initial application or previous replies to official actions, which are in accordance with the provisions of the guidelines in force at the time of the exam may be used by examiners. Such use does not prevent additional official actions in case any issues are still present;

d) Industrial design applications that had an administrative appeal granted (i.e., loss of priority or shelving) will be returned to the technical examination, which in turn will be carried out in accordance with the current guidelines, regardless of its date of filing;

e) Once resubmitted for technical examination, the application may be subject to new official actions.

In summary, all pending applications will be examined under the new guidelines, regardless of their filing date. Although this is to be expected, it is very reassuring that the Office has issued a formal statement on the matter.

For example, applications which received an official action before October 2 which deadline ends after October 2 should take advantage of the new guidelines and file a response accordingly. In addition, applications that replied to an official action prior to October 2, 2023, but are still pending, will also be examined under the new guidelines.

If you would like to know more about the new guidelines for industrial designs in Brazil, you may check our newsletter on the subject here.

Should you have any further questions please feel free to contact us at email mail@kasznarleonardos.com. We will be glad to assist you.