The Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BPTO) and the Danish Patent and Trademark Office (DKPTO) have signed a patent prosecution highway (PPH) agreement to increase the efficiency of patent application reviews.

The programme will come into effect on 1 September 2018 and will last for two years.
The agreement will see each country accept a maximum of 100 patent applications per year, with the BPTO only accepting one application per month per applicant, except in the last month of the initiative.

Application eligibility will depend on varying jurisdiction. According to Brazilian law firm Di Blasi Parente & Associados, the BPTO will only accept applications in the mechanical engineering, guns and explosives, and heating sectors, whereas the DKPTO will accept applications for all technological sectors.

PPH agreements allow applications that are covered by the agreement to receive “expedited analysis” from one patent office following an initial examination by the other.

The BPTO is currently entered in several other PPH agreements with the US, UK, EU, Japan, China and the South American PROSUR group.