On July 11, 2023, the National Institute of Industrial Property (“INPI”) published two new Ordinances, nº 26 and 27, to regulate the changes in the administrative procedure and guidelines for the examination of annotation and registration of technology contracts. Remembering that such changes had been deliberated in December 2022 by the Governing Body of the INPI, but were awaiting regulation for entry into force.

Ordinance nº. 26/2023 expressly revokes Normative Instructions nº. 16, 39 and 70 of the INPI and presents updates on procedures adopted by those interested in registrations. Ordinance nº. 27 expressly revokes INPI Resolution No. 199 and brings changes to the contract examination guidelines that are observed by the Institute itself.

According to the INPI, the changes now regulated aim to modernize formal and technical aspects of the registration of contracts, in order to keep up with the demands of the current technology market.

Among the changes brought about by the ordinances, the following stand out:

1. Exemption from notarization and apostille/consularization of documents with digital signatures carried out abroad;
2. Exemption from the signature of two witnesses in contracts indicating a Brazilian city as the place of signature;
3. Dismissal of headings on all pages of the contract;
4. No need to present the bylaws, social contract or articles of incorporation in requests for annotation/registration;
5. No need to present the Registration Form;
6. Digital signature without ICP-Brasil certificate is now accepted;
7. Acceptance of licensing of non-patented technologies (whose registration must be carried out in the Technology Provision - FT category);
8. Certificates involving only trademark registration applications must present declared values in their respective contracts.

Ordinances nº 26 and 27 came into force from the date of their publication, on July 11, so that the procedures for registering license agreements and assignment of industrial property rights, as well as the registration of technology transfer agreements and franchise, already follow the new procedural guidelines.

The mentioned modifications in the contract registration procedure may seem simple, but in practice they bring agility and ease, especially to interested parties located in other countries, as is the case of many of our clients.

We will continue to monitor the weekly publications and inform you again when new guidelines or regulatory norms appear that affect the processes submitted to INPI analysis and, therefore, the interests of those we represent.