In complement of Rule # 154 of December 21, 2015, the Brazilian PTO published today (January 30, 2018) Rule # 210/2018 of January 26, 2018, which extends until May 10, 2018 the period for receiving fast-track examination requests within the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) established between the Brazilian PTO and USPTO.

The requirements for entry into this program remain the same, which are summarized below. This PPH is limited to patent applications related to the oil & gas field, according to the International Patent Classification (IPC) as follows:

Physical or chemical processes or apparatus in general => B01

Ships or other waterborne vessels; related equipment => B63

Compositions for drilling of boreholes or wells; compositions for treating boreholes or wells, e.g. for completion or for remedial operations => C09K8

Petroleum, gas or coke industries; fuels; lubricants; peat => C10

Hydraulic engineering, foundations, soil-shifting => E02

Earth or rock drilling; mining => E21

Fluid-pressure actuators; hydraulics or pneumatics in general => F15

Engineering elements or units; general measures for producing and maintaining effective functioning of machines or installations => F16

Storing or distrusting gases or liquids => F17

Measuring; testing => G01

  • Only patent applications filed after January 1, 2013 are accepted;
  • Only applications belonging to patent families whose earliest application has been filed at USPTO or, in case of a PCT application, with no priority claim, the USPTO was the receiving office, are accepted;
  • The Brazilian patent application must have an application of its family allowed by the USPTO;
  • The Brazilian patent application must have been published by the BRPTO and must have the regular examination already requested;
  • The Brazilian patent application must have no outstanding office action to be complied with or the application must have not undergone a regular technical examination before;
  • The Brazilian patent application must not be in court litigation;
  • The patent application must not be a divisional application (except for those resulting from the division of the original application and from lack of unity of invention objection issued for equivalent application).

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.