Our client alert of July 3, 2015 drew attention to a new understanding on patent cooperation signed by the Presidents of Brazil and the USA. At the time, no conditions were established on how this understanding should be implemented. Nevertheless, the understanding was generally viewed as a viable solution in tackling the Brazilian patent backlog problem.Since the signing of the understanding, representatives of both governments met on 16 and 17 November at the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BRPTO) to commence dialogue on how to put the understanding into practice. Among the issues discussed at the meeting, were the possibility of technical cooperation between the USPTO and the BRPTO, as well as a Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) agreement between both Offices.According to the BRPTO, the PPH agreement will be finalized soon. To date, no additional official information was released on how the PPH agreement will work in practice.This is certainly a topic of great interest to those that file patent applications in Brazil. Our team is closely monitoring the ongoing developments and will provide an update as soon as new information is available.
