Brazilian Patent Trademark Office and Brazilian Courts during the Covid-19 outbreak

Dear clients and other friends,

We would like to let you know about a few temporary changes in the Brazilian legal landscape due to the COVID-19 outbreak. 

BPTO

The Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BPTO) has published a notice determining the suspension of all terms from March 16 to April 14. Counting will resume after April 14 and any terms that would have started running within this period will only begin after the suspension period is over. Nevertheless, the BPTO has assured that all of its operational services will be functioning normally.

Since the BPTO works through an online platform, all the petitions can be filed without adversely affecting both clients and users in general.

In addition, aiming to ensure the safety of both its staff and the general public, the BPTO has cancelled all in-person meetings. Hence, all external communications must be made through the online channel.

Courts

Brazilian courts are postponing hearings and suspending all current proceedings, which will extend judicial deadlines. The National Commission for Justice in Brazil, also issued a notice upholding all the deadlines, at all levels – local, state and federal – until April 30, 2020.

Our Offices

Although our offices remain open, we have asked all personnel (except a skeleton crew) to work remotely full-time.  We remain committed to providing our clients with world-class service while protecting the health of our people and their families.

Not only do we remain fully operational, we also have deployed a COVID-19 response team that is busy publishing updates about legal issues raised by the current situation. These publications can be found on our COVID-19 web portal.

We will continue to keep you posted. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance professionally and personally.