(BRPTO’s website communication of March 28 th , 2018)

‍The BRPTO and the UKIPO signed, on March 28 th , 2018, an agreement to speed up the examination of pending Brazilian applications. The agreement regards the implementation of a PPH Pilot program between both Offices. The PPH program shall come into force in the third quarter of 2018 and up to 100 applications could be accepted into the program per year.The technical fields eligible for this program will still be defined by the BRPTO and the UKIPO.This is the sixth PPH program to be implemented by the BRPTO, as an attempt to reduce its examination pendency.