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Backlog of trademark in Brazil falls for the first time in four years

The INPI’s decision to prioritize the improvement of operational efficiency produced results in 2014.

The adopted strategy is simple and familiar: strengthening the framework of examiners and improving the support infrastructure to the activity of technical examination.

In 2014, the amount of pending first exam registration applications (backlog) in the area of trademark in Brazil, began to decline for the first time in four years, after growing in average 22% per year between 2010 and 2013.

The total production of exams increased by 76% in relation to 2013 and surpassed the annual volume of new applications. The reduction of the backlog was also influenced by slight drop in demand.

The performance improvement is due to the advances in two critical aspects for increasing the capacity of examination: human resources and information technology.

In 2014, the examiners board of trademark increased from 66 to 102, reaching the largest number in the history of Brazilian BPTO. There was convening of booking registration candidates from 2013 competition, as well as the internal relocation of servers that returned to the activity of examining trademark.

The consolidation of computerized systems has contributed to the 19% increase in productivity of the examiners and to the enhancement of the management tools from the Board of trademark.

The challenge now is to achieve a performance compatible with the standards of the international trademark system. The next step is to prepare the INPI to offer operational terms appropriate into the Access of Brazil to the Madrid Protocol.

Currently, the average time for first examination is 43 months. The goal is to reduce this period for up to 18 months.

Carmen Sánchez-Puelles