IP protection in Brazil: INPI timelines and fast-track options for EU firms

IP protection in Brazil: INPI timelines and fast-track options for EU firms

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IP protection in Brazil takes longer than anywhere else in the corridor. According to the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (INPI), in 2025 a trade mark application without opposition took 18.3 months to reach a technical decision, one with opposition 34.4 months, and a patent 4.3 years from entry into the office. For European companies the practical answer is to file earlier than elsewhere and to use the fast-track routes INPI offers for patents and, since May 2026, for more trade mark situations.

Update (October 2026): on 19 August 2026 Brazil’s Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) adopted Judgment 2203/2026 on INPI’s trade mark system. It reported that the average decision time for unopposed applications rose from 7 to 19 months between 2020 and 2025, reached 34 months for opposed applications, and that the stock of pending cases grew by 300% to more than 791,000. The TCU gave INPI 45 days to present an action plan. TCU, 25 August 2026.

Key takeaways

  • INPI’s own 2026 targets are a 10-month decision for unopposed trade marks and 3.5 years for patents, against 18.3 months and 4.3 years in 2025.
  • Since 2021 a Brazilian patent lasts 20 years from filing with no minimum term from grant, so examination delay now eats directly into protection.
  • Brazil has been in the Madrid System since 2 October 2019, but international registrations made before that date cannot be extended to Brazil by subsequent designation.
  • Patents can be accelerated through INPI’s priority modalities, including suspected infringement and the PPH programme with the European Patent Office (EPO).
  • Foreign applicants must appoint a qualified attorney domiciled in Brazil.

How long does INPI take? The 2025 figures and 2026 targets

INPI’s Action Plan 2026, published in February 2026, sets out its own indicators:

Procedure Actual 2025 Target 2026
Patent, technical decision from entry into INPI 4.3 years 3.5 years
Patent under priority examination 6.3 months 6.0 months
Trade mark without opposition 18.3 months 10.0 months
Trade mark with opposition 34.4 months 36.0 months
Industrial design 9.11 months 12.0 months
Technology contract recordal, final decision 24.22 days 24.5 days

INPI notes that 2025 results were calculated as averages and that from 2026 it measures medians, so the two columns are not strictly comparable. The pattern is still clear: patents have improved, and the European Commission’s IP Helpdesk reported in July 2025 that INPI’s patent backlog fell from 15,134 applications in October 2022 to 1,052 in March 2025, while trade mark filings kept outpacing decisions. In practice, the trade mark queue is now the bottleneck for brands entering Brazil.

Why delay costs more in Brazil than it used to

Under the Industrial Property Law 9.279/1996, an invention patent lasts 20 years from filing (Art. 40). The rule that guaranteed at least 10 years from grant was revoked by Law 14.195/2021, so every year spent in examination is a year less of enforceable exclusivity. Examination must also be requested within 36 months of filing, or the application is archived (Art. 33). Once granted, the owner can claim compensation for exploitation since publication of the application (Art. 44), but the commercial value of a patent granted late in its life is lower.

For trade marks, ownership is acquired by registration (Art. 129). A good-faith user who had been using an identical or similar mark in Brazil for at least six months before your filing date has a right of precedence (Art. 129(1)), which is one more reason to file before launching. Private applicants may only register marks related to an activity they, or companies they control, actually carry out (Art. 128(1)), and anyone domiciled abroad must appoint an attorney domiciled in Brazil with power to receive service (Art. 217).

Routes into Brazil for European companies

  • Madrid designation. Brazil joined the Madrid Protocol on 2 October 2019. According to WIPO’s table of declarations, Brazil applies an 18-month refusal period, charges an individual fee and made the Article 14(5) declaration, so an international registration made before its accession cannot be extended to Brazil. Many European portfolios built in the 2000s and 2010s need a new international application or a national filing.
  • National trade mark filing at INPI. A direct filing, through a Brazilian attorney, can claim Paris Convention priority from a European application filed in the previous six months (Art. 127).
  • Patents. Brazil has been in the PCT since 1978, so a European applicant can enter the Brazilian national phase or file directly with Paris priority.
  • Designs. Brazil has applied the Hague Agreement since 1 August 2023 (WIPO Lex), so international design registrations can now designate it.

How to speed up patents in Brazil

INPI Ordinance 79 of 16 December 2022 regulates priority examination of patents. The modalities most useful to a European company are:

  • Applicant alleges infringement. Available where the applicant has evidence that a third party is reproducing or selling the invention, and has notified that third party with proof of receipt.
  • Technology available on the market, green technology and health technologies, each with its own evidence requirements.
  • Collaborative priority examination. Where a partner office has found the subject matter patentable. The PPH programme between the EPO and INPI was extended on 1 December 2024 until 30 November 2029.

INPI’s official fee is R$ 890 for most strategic modalities and R$ 1,780 for collaborative examination, with 50% reductions for small companies and research institutions. In 2025, prioritised patents reached a technical decision in 6.3 months on average, against more than four years in the ordinary queue. Priority requires that the application has been published and the examination fee paid; for PCT applications, the request counts as an express request to start before 30 months.

How to speed up trade marks in Brazil

Trade marks have a narrower fast track. Phase II of INPI’s pilot priority examination scheme for trade marks, under Ordinances 66 and 67 of 10 April 2026, in force from 1 May 2026, covers situations such as:

  • an opponent invoking prior good-faith use, or an applicant opposed on that basis;
  • a party to court proceedings involving the sign;
  • an applicant that needs a registered mark to sell on an online marketplace;
  • an applicant whose permit, authorisation or concession from a public authority depends on registration.

The scheme is capped: 3,000 requests in 2026, split into two four-month windows of 1,500, with a maximum of 10 requests per applicant, allocated in order of filing. Outside these cases, the levers are preparation: clean specifications, early searches, and prompt monitoring of the 60-day opposition period after publication (Art. 158).

What this means for your business

  1. Put Brazil at the front of the filing calendar, not at the end: file trade marks at least 18 to 24 months before launch.
  2. Check whether your international registrations pre-date October 2019; if so, plan a new Madrid filing or a national application.
  3. For patents, request examination early and assess whether an EPO result or evidence of infringement opens a priority route.
  4. Appoint the Brazilian attorney at the start and align the filing owner with the group company that actually trades in Brazil.
  5. Budget for oppositions: an opposed mark can take close to three years.

Our cross-border IP strategy team for Brazil and Latin America can sequence Brazil within your wider filing programme and coordinate the local correspondent from day one.

Where European companies get Brazil wrong

  • Assuming an old international registration covers Brazil. Brazil’s Article 14(5) declaration rules that out.
  • Launching before filing. The six-month prior-use precedence rule can let an earlier local user claim the mark.
  • Letting patent examination drift. With no minimum term from grant, a late request or a slow prosecution shortens protection.
  • Filing in the name of a holding company with no Brazilian activity, without checking the activity requirement in Article 128.
  • Reading silence as acceptance. Brazil has 18 months to refuse a Madrid designation, and refusals based on oppositions can come later.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to register a trade mark in Brazil?

INPI’s own figures for 2025 were 18.3 months on average to a technical decision for applications without opposition and 34.4 months with opposition. Its 2026 target for unopposed marks is 10 months, measured as a median. Planning should assume well over a year, and close to three years if a third party opposes.

Can I add Brazil to my existing international registration?

Only if the international registration was made after Brazil joined the Madrid Protocol on 2 October 2019. Brazil made the Article 14(5) declaration, which excludes subsequent designations of registrations made before its accession. Older registrations need a new international application or a national filing at INPI.

Can a European patent result speed up examination in Brazil?

Yes, potentially. The PPH programme between the EPO and INPI runs until 30 November 2029, and INPI offers a collaborative priority examination where a partner office has found the claims patentable. In 2025, prioritised patent applications reached a technical decision in 6.3 months on average.

Can IP Global Guard handle our filings in Brazil?

Yes. We design the filing strategy, prepare the Madrid, PCT or national filings and coordinate a qualified local correspondent before INPI, including priority examination requests and oppositions. You keep a single point of contact for Brazil and the rest of your portfolio in Europe, Latin America and Africa.

How IP Global Guard helps you enter Brazil on time

Brazil rewards companies that plan. IP Global Guard, the IP services line of META Channel Corporation Limited, coordinates trade marks, patents and designs across more than 25 jurisdictions in Europe, Latin America and Africa, with one strategy and one billing relationship; see our jurisdiction coverage. For brands, our international trademark registration service checks your existing registrations against Brazil’s Madrid rules before anything is filed.

Tell us which marks and patent families you want in Brazil and when you plan to launch. We will map the fastest available route for each right and coordinate the filings from a single point of contact. Contact our team about Brazil.

This article is general information, not legal advice, and reflects the position on the date of publication.

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