Obtaining A Patent For The Invention/Utility Model In Portugal
The National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) is the only body in Portugal that deals with the registration and protection of rights to inventions. A patent or utility model protects the right to a new invention and gives the owner of such invention or model the exclusive right to use such invention.
Cost of services: varies depending on the number of working hours required for technical order preparation. A quote is sent when it is possible to make an approximate calculation of the hours.
Completion time: the application is submitted as quickly as possible, depending on the technical information and the work required. It may, however, require a few weeks to be submitted.
The First Legal Portugal company accompanies the process of obtaining a patent or a utility model for a invention, accompanies the submission of a preliminary application for a patent, prepares a set of documents for obtaining provisional application for patent.
Before submitting a patent application, you must:
- Perform a search in the INPI database or in ESPACENET, and check whether such an invention is not yet protected;
- Make sure that this invention is not commonly known, has never been filed or registered, or disclosed in any way. Public disclosure destroys the required novelty.
In Portugal, an application for registration of a patent for an invention can be submitted in 3 ways:
- Online;
- By postal communication;
- In paper form.
The application for obtaining a patent for an invention goes through the following stages (as long as there are no issues or official notifications):
- Application submission;
- Formal examination;
- Publication in the Industrial Property Bulletin (18 months from the date of application registration);
- Submission of objections (2 months);
- Examination of the invention;
- Making a decision on registration or refusal in registration;
- Appealing decisions, if necessary (you may file an appeal within 2 months from the moment of the decision to the Court of Intellectual Property or to the arbitration center).
During the period of validity of the patent, which is 20 years, the owner must pay annuities (anuidades).
If you choose a utility model, the registration stages are simplified and consist of the following stages:
- Application submission;
- Formal examination;
- Publication in the Industrial Property Bulletin (6 months from the date of application registration);
- Submission of objections (2 months);
- Examination of the invention;
- Making a decision on registration or refusal in registration;
- Appealing decisions, if necessary (you can file an appeal within 2 months from the moment of the decision to the Court of Intellectual Property or to the arbitration center).
