Improvements in the Brazilian Design Patent PracticeDecember 7, 2023

Our esteemed colleagues at Daniel IP report to us that there are exciting new rules that have come into effect for designs in Brazil. They authored the following summary of the new laws. We believe this summary will be extremely useful to many U.S. Applicants considering protection in Brazil in the design space. We highly encourage our U.S. Applicants to consider protection in Brazil, as U.S. Design Patents do not prevent third parties from making, using, or selling their inventions in Brazil.

***AUTHORED BY DANIEL IP***

Enlarged Views

Based on the new rules, enlarged views are understood as complementary views to that submitted in the design application and must present the enlarged view of a specific ornamental detail of the claimed design. The representation of the specific ornamental detail must be presented in an exclusive image, not being accepted in the same image of any other view.

Additionally, the enlarged area must be clearly observed in at least one of the other views. In order to clarify which area was enlarged, it can be indicated by means of a dash-dotted line in one of the other views.

See below the accepted representations of enlarged views:

Example 1 – without an indication of the enlarged area

Example 2 – including an indication of the enlarged area

Exploded Views

It is also important to highlight that exploded views are now accepted.

Considering the rules, the exploded view shows the product disassembled, in order to allow the visualization of its parts, pieces or components. The exploded view can complement the views that show the assembled product, in order to facilitate its understanding.

Please note that parts, pieces or components visible only in the exploded view (i.e. those that are not visible in the external configuration of the assembled product) are not protected by the industrial design registration of the assembled form. Thus, to protect these parts, pieces or components visible only in the exploded view, it is mandatory to include a complete set of drawings to each of them.

Example 3

Dashed Lines

After a lot of discussions, clarifications and meetings with the examiners of the Brazilian PTO, the new rules were updated to accept dashed lines to represent contextual and non-claimed elements of the design.

In general terms, dashed lines will be understood as non-claimed elements. However, we advise you to include a disclaimer clarifying that the dashed lines in a design application represent non-claimed elements. On the other hand, we advise you to include a disclaimer to clarify when dashed lines represent claimed elements.

Example 4

It is advisable to include a disclaimer clarifying that the dashed lines represent non-claimed elements

Example 5

Just to illustrate, it is advisable to include a disclaimer clarifying that the dashed lines represent claimed elements, for example, the stitching lines on the bag

Example 6

Example 7

GUIs

Finally, we would like to highlight that dynamic GUIs are now accepted as well.

In this case, the design of the dynamic graphical interface must be represented through static images presented in the order of their display to allow clear understanding of the sequence that constitutes its visual aspect. The visual characteristics of the images must allow them to be recognized as part of the same sequence.

Table indicating updates in view of the new rules

Example 8

***END OF DANIEL IP AUTHORSHIP***

Gregory Lars Gunnerson is an Intellectual Property Attorney in the Mechanical and Electrical Patent Practice Groups at McKee, Voorhees & Sease, PLC. For additional information please visit www.ipmvs.com or contact Lars directly via email at gregory.gunnerson@ipmvs.com.