Great hopes for the PPH
The adoption of the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) programme by these patent offices was one of the initiatives used to achieve their targets.
The Brazilian Association for Research and Development of Innovative Companies, an association with over 250 associate companies that represent 80% of Brazilian research and development, private investment and 60% of national GDP, has acknowledged since 2011 the Brazilian problem with the overall backlog of patent applications. In 2014, the Brazilian National Confederation of Industry stated that the country needs to reduce the waiting time for a patent application to be examined in order to keep the competitiveness of local companies.
The huge delay in the Brazilian prosecution process increases examination costs, but its harmful effect goes beyond the INPI. As a main negative impact for the country, local companies and researchers, the delay brings uncertainty to the market, as patent applications remain pending for more than 50% of their life. This delay may negatively affect the commercial competitiveness of a new product, mainly ones with short lifecycles, ie, they will stay for most of their commercial shelf life without any IP protection.
