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Changes in the Portuguese Industrial Property Code
The communication below is a reproduction of an official announcement by the instituto nacional da propriedade industrial concerning amendments to the IP Code
A new Portuguese Decree n. º 143/2008, of 25th of July came into force on 1 October 2008, and introduces significant changes to the Portuguese Industrial Property Code.
In general terms, the new measures introduced aim to make the Industrial Property system easier, more agile and user-friendly, endowing it with modern and up-to-date instruments capable of guaranteeing the adequate regulation of the Industrial Property Rights as well as contributing towards the encouragement of the use of Industrial Property, placing it at the service of the population and companies, in addition to promoting economic development and investment in Portugal.
The introduced modifications intend to guarantee the continuity of efforts that INPI has been making in order to simplify proceedings, reduce costs and decision periods, without neither losing sight of the specificity of some modalities nor diminishing the quality of the services provided.
One of the major and most important changes introduced in the Industrial Property Code, as of 1st October, 2008 permits the direct access of any citizen to INPI services, regardless of their residence or business location; thus, being sufficient the indication of an address in Portugal, an electronic address or a fax number, in order to be able to receive the corresponding notifications. This modification has yet to include foreign professional representatives.
Furthermore, filing patent applications in English is now possible. In fact, beyond the provisional patent application, (one of the new measures introduced by the Decree) the complete patent application (containing the claims, specifications, drawings and the abstract) can be filed in English, awarding, however, to the applicant, a time period to present the corresponding translation into Portuguese.
Moreover, all Industrial Property Right applications may be filed on-line, therefore benefiting from a substantial fee reduction (up to 50% when compared to paper filed applications).
Should you be interested in learning more about the changes introduced by the Decree, we invite you to visit our website and use the link to the complete text of the Decree in Portuguese.