Patents and industrial design registration are support instruments to the technological renew process and businesses investments. They are valid temporary property titles given by the state to the inventor/author or other people, therefore excluding third parties regarding the matter.


Types of industrial protection

Patents and industrial designs are kinds of industrial protection and can be classified as follows:


Invention Patent (IP)

It is the use of human capacity in the search for the answer to a specific area problem of a specific technology field, whose industrial use and fabrication is possible.
For example: an invention regarding telephone sets which, at first, solve the communication problem by applying electromagnetic action.

 
Certificate of Addition to Invention

It is the improvement or development introduced in the object of a certain invention. The protection is possible only to the applicant or invention owner to which the certificate refers to.

Utility Model Patent

It is the shape or disposition of a practical use object (or part of it) that results in a functional improvement of its use or production.
For example: the change of the previous shape and structure of a telephone set, consisting of joining the speaker and the receiver into a one-piece object.

Industrial Design

Three-dimensional: an ornamental plastic form of an object which may be applied to a product, providing a new and original visual result in its external configuration and that may serve as a model for industrial manufacture.
For example: changes related to the plastic shape of the set with ornamental characteristics

Two-dimensional:  an ornamental arrangement of lines and colors that may be used, industrially or commercially, in the decoration of a product by any means.
For example: using colors or lines in order to adorn the product.
Who may apply for industrial protection (patent or industrial design)?
Any person or company.
 
Prior search
A prior search is not compulsory. However, it’s advisable to conduct it before the submission of any request for patent or the registration of a industrial design. This search is carried out in the INPI/RJ database.

Request submission
After the approval of the descriptive memorial and designs by the client, the request is submitted to the INPI office in Sao Paulo.

Patent requisites:

Invention Patent:

Is patentable if it satisfies the requirements of novelty, inventive step, and industrial application.

Utility Model Patent:

If it is susceptible of industrial application, has a new form or arrangement, and involves an inventive act, that results in functioning improvement in its use or manufacture.

Industrial Design Registration:

Is patentable if it satisfies the requirements of novelty, industrial application or employment and originality.

Non-patentable Inventions and Utility Models

Anything contrary to morals, standards of respectability and public security, order and health; substances, materials, mixtures, elements or products of any kind, as well as the modification of their physical-chemical properties and the respective processes for obtainment or modification, when resulting from the transformation of the atomic nucleus; and all or part of living beings.

Non-registrable Industrial Design

Anything contrary to morals and standards of respectability or that offends the honor or image of persons, or attempts freedom of conscience, belief, religious cult or ideas and feelings worthy of respect and veneration; the common or ordinary necessary shape of the object or, yet, that shape which is essentially determined by technical or functional considerations.