Modification of trademark registrability examination
Intellectual Property – Patents & Trademarks | Modification of trademark registrability examination.
On December 11, 2025, Resolution 583/2025 (the “Resolution”) was published in the Official Bulletin, modernizing the trademark registration procedure, with the aim of simplifying procedures, reducing deadlines, and providing greater legal predictability to the trademark system, aligning it with international standards.
The Resolution issued by the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) limits the substantive examination of trademark applications to absolute prohibitions (e.g., lack of distinctiveness) and grounds related to public policy (e.g., identical prior trademarks, appellations of origin, official signs of the national state or foreign states). Relative prohibitions relating to the possible confusion with pre-existing registrations, misleading consumers, and the names and images of third parties will only be assessed at the request of a party through opposition proceedings.
In addition, the Resolution establishes that the examination of form and substance must be carried out before the trademark application is published. If the trademark application is not subject to any formal or substantive observations, or if any observations that may have been made have been corrected, the Trademark Office shall order its publication in the Trademark Bulletin and, after 30 days, if no third-party oppositions have been filed, the trademark shall be granted. In the event that the trademark application is subject to opposition by third parties, the administrative opposition resolution procedure, regulated by INPI Resolution P-183/18, shall apply, if applicable.
The scope of the Resolution will be applied in stages. The change in the scope of the examination of applications for registration of new trademarks to absolute prohibitions or those related to public policy will be immediately applicable and will cover all applications for new trademarks that are currently being processed at any stage, while the new stages of the trademark registrability examination procedure will come into effect on March 1, 2026.
Sincerely,