Following the consensus among the international community about the importance of the development of green technologies in mitigating global climate change, national governments also came to acknowledge the relevance of patent granting procedures as a mechanism to promote green innovation.

 

Within this context, the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office – INPI – will launch, as of this date of April 17, 2012, a pilot program involving “green patents”, for the purpose of prioritizing examination of patent applications related to environmentally friendly technologies, by reducing the time it will take for their examination to less than two years. The pilot program is quite limited as yet and only the first 500 petitions granted by the Brazilian PTO will be accepted into the program.

 

In order to qualify for the program, the patent application will be checked by a technical board at the Brazilian Patent Office – INPI, and for the time being there will only be accepted applications related to alternative energy, transport, energy conservation, waste management and agriculture. Furthermore, the following requisites should be cumulatively fulfilled: 1) the application must be an application for a patent of invention (PI); 2) the application must be a national application, filed by either resident or non-resident parties; 3) the filing with the Brazilian Patent Office – INPI must have taken place after January 2, 2011; and 4) the application must include, at most, a total of 15 claims, of which up to 3 claims may be drafted as independent claims. Those applicants interested in participating in this project shall need to submit a request to the Brazilian Office – INPI by means of a specific form, in addition to requesting the examination and early publication (if not yet requested), by means of payment of the respective official fees.