Circular Letter 29

DENIS ALLAN DANIEL
HENRY K. SHERRILL
VLADIA A. DANIEL
RODRIGO BONAN DE AGUIAR
ALICIA DANIEL-SHORES
ALEXANDRE FERREIRA
NELLIE DANIEL-SHORES
RICARDO PINHO
December 2005
PATENT CIRCULAR LETTER Nº 29
CERTIFIED COPIES OF PRIORITY DOCUMENTS
Dear Sirs:
The Industrial Design Division at the Brazilian PTO, via the Official Bulletin, has published decisions
on some design cases to the effect that the priority claim has been forfeited. The basis for such
measures is that applicant failed to submit certified copies of priority documents to evidence priority
claims in the design applications.
The practice, based on the interpretation of the law, has been to submit an uncertified copy of the
priority document and not a certified copy. This practice has been accepted by the Brazilian PTO since
the advent of the new Patent Law in May 1997.
With specific reference to those industrial design applications where the priority claim is deemed to be
forfeited, we shall have to take appropriate measure to circumvent this rash decision.
In view of the occurrences, we are now requesting that all new applications be accompanied by their
corresponding certified priority documents. In case the mentioned document is not submitted together
with the application at the filing date, we will have a term of 90 days to submit such document.
As a safety measure, we are also requesting that certified copies for all new patent applications that
claim a convention priority (except PCT cases) be provided to us to avoid future similar forfeiture
decisions as those that are currently being made by the Design Division.
Sincerely,
DANIEL ADVOGADOS
Rana Gosain
Ricardo Pinho
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