Phase III of the fast-track pilot program for applications with BR priority under Rule #212/2018

(BRPTO’s gazette of March 6th, 2018)The BRPTO published on March 6th, 2018, Rule #212/2018 implementing Phase III of the pilot program for applications with BR priority.The project aims for Brazilian utility patent applications and utility model patent applications first filed at the BRPTO or at the RO/BR (the BRPTO as the PCT’s Receiving Office), which has been subsequently filed in at least another national or regional patent office and published at least in one of those PTOs.To be accepted in Phase III of the pilot program for applications with BR priority, the applications must:i)have the filing notification duly published in the BRPTO’s gazette under code 2.1 or code 1.3;ii)have already been published by the BRPTO under code 3.1 or code 3.2 or have the corresponding international application published by WIPO;iii)have its request for examination submitted to the BRPTO;iv)have all due annuity fees paid;v)not have office actions pending on replies;vi)have not been accepted in any fast-track examination program;vii)not be involved in a lawsuit in Brazil;viii)not be already under substantive examination; andix)not be divided;The participation of the application in the pilot program for applications shall be requested by any or all the applicants via a specific electronic form.The BRPTO will analyze the fast-track request in order to confirm if the application meets the requirements and will give the applicant an opportunity to correct any irregularity, case in which the BRPTO will issue an office action to be replied within 60 days.Once the request is accepted by the BRPTO, the substantive examination will not be initiated prior to 60 days counted from the publication of the request.Phase III of the pilot program for applications with BR priority started on March 1st, 2018 and will be valid until April 31st, 2019. Phase III is limited to the first 100 participation requests.The original Portuguese version of Rule #212/2018 is available here. The English version will be available soon.