New Global PPH Rules In Brazil

As part of the 2023-2025 Action Plan of the National Intellectual Property Strategy, the Brazilian Patent Office (BRPTO) joined the Global Patent Prosecution Highway (GPPH) program on July 06, 2024. However, patent Applicants were still waiting for new Rules to be published to benefit from an extended version of the PPH.

These anticipated Rules were published on November 29, 2024, establishing a 5th phase for PPH in Brazil. Compared to the previous Rules, indeed many welcoming changes have been introduced:

• The total limit of 800 PPH requests per year has been increased to 3200;
• The limit of 250 PPH requests per year per IPC class has been increased to 1000;
• The limit of 100 PPH requests based on a favorable PCT examination result has been removed; and