In a recent Notice published in the BRPTO’s Official Gazette on April 2, 2024, the BRPTO confirms that it has yet to address most of the issues associated with the implementation of the new IT system, as previously reported in our Client Alert on March 12, 2024.

Due to issues with the BuscaWeb system, the examination of the novelty of originality for industrial designs (i.e., substantive examination for industrial designs) remains on hold. The BRPTO is actively working to rectify this issue and aims to provide an updated timeline for normalization “as soon as possible”.

As per the latest statement, the BRPTO estimates a new deadline of April 30, 2024, for commencing the formal examination of applications filed between December 19, 2023, and January 4, 2024. The resolution of instabilities has also been postponed to April 30, 2024, resulting in the inability to access information and generate certificates and other documents through the BuscaWeb system. Deadlines for filing petitions regarding divisional applications (BR 32) also remain suspended, with a new Ordinance addressing the suspension of deadlines set to be published.