yes. Before the applicant receives the final decision, it may be proposed to change the type of invention from invention to utility model.
12-14 months
A novelty grace period of 6 months is available if:
- Disclosures caused at officially organized or officially sanctioned international exhibitions
- Disclosure resulting from being made public for reasons related to the misuse of the inventor or its predecessor owner
If the disclosure is caused by the designer, the novelty grace period is 12 months from the date of disclosure.
no
INPI only conducts formality examination of utility model patent applications. Substantive examination may only be requested if the applicant deems it necessary. An invention protected by a patent can be protected simultaneously or successively with a utility model. To this end, applicants have a maximum of 1 year to make changes.
A novelty grace period of 6 months is available if:
- Disclosures caused at officially organized or officially sanctioned international exhibitions
- Disclosure resulting from being made public for reasons related to the misuse of the inventor or its predecessor owner
- yes. A maximum of 100 designs may be included in one Portuguese design application, provided they belong to the same class in the International Design Classification.
20 years
3 months
- via Paris Convention : 6 months from earliest priority date.
- Hague Agreement route: 6 months from earliest priority date.
- EU appearance route: 6 months from the earliest priority date.