October 2, 2023
The BRPTO, through the Federal Register of September 12, 2023, published Ordinance #36/2023, that institutes a new version of examination guidelines for the prosecution of industrial design applications. Said ordinance was also published on the same date by the BRPTO in its Official Gazette #2749. The BRPTO also informed that the public comments submitted on the draft version of said new edition of the Handbook were received, analyzed, and responded by the Permanent Committee for Improving Procedures and Guidelines for Examination of Trademarks, Industrial Designs, and Geographical Indications (CPAPD). The Brazilian design practice was significantly impacted by the new edition of the BRPTO’s Handbook. The main topics are highlighted below:
The procedures established for the protection of industrial designs under the Hague Agreement provided for by Ordinance #25/2023 have been incorporated in this new edition of the Handbook.
Dynamic and static graphic interfaces, icons, and typographic families are formally specified as eligible to be protected as an industrial design according to items 5.3.10 and 5.3.12 of the new edition of the BRPTO's Handbook.
The possibility of protecting industrial designs that include a logotype or even of protecting a logo as an industrial design is encompassed by item 5.3.9 of the Handbook's new edition.
Design submissions including dashed lines are allowed, with the understanding that the elements represented by such lines are not considered part of the claimed design and are not protected by the corresponding industrial design registration, as established by item 5.3.4.3 of the Handbook's new edition.
Each figure in the industrial design of a complex product made up of parts without mechanical interconnection must present an arrangement including all the parts or components that constitute the claimed configuration. The parts or components of this type of product are not variations of the configuration, but rather parts of a single configuration, as established by item 5.3.11 of the Handbook's new edition.
The applicant now has the possibility of submitting the DAS code to fulfill the filing requirement related to the certified copy of priority document, as established by item 5.2.2 of the Handbook's new edition.
The new edition of the BRPTO's Industrial Design Handbook comes into force on October 2, 2023. A copy of said document is available here. For more information on the changes encompassed by said publication, please contact us at industrialdesign@lickslegal.com. We will be glad to assist you.
