Aiming to encouraging startups to seek protection of their technologies through patents faster, the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial – INPI) published the Ordinance nº 247/2020, which takes effect as of July 30, 2020.

The Ordinance establishes that startups, as defined in Complementary Law No. 167 of April 24, 2019, can request priority/accelerated examination of their patent applications.

To be accepted a copy of the certificate issued by the Redesim must be presented and the patent application must I) have been published by the Brazilian PTO or with publication already requested; II) have the regular examination requested; III) not have been accepted in other form of priority processing; and IV) not be subject of a division or modification between the request and decision on the priority procedure.