Argentine Chapter of Global Patent GO——Introduction to Argentine Patent Application

'Pampas Eagle' accelerates recovery

The 2022 World Cup is in full swing. The "Pampas Eagles" led by Messi lost to Saudi Arabia in the first round of Group C. Despite the defeat on the football field, Argentina is not reconciled to being left behind in economic development and is catching up, trying to get rid of the shameful label of "the only one in the world that has "struggled" from a developed country to a developing country."

Argentina passed the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) first review of its debt refinancing program in June, and will receive a $4.01 billion loan. According to a report released by the World Bank, the Argentine economy is expected to grow by 3.6% in 2022, which is higher than the average growth rate of 2.3% in Latin America. Although the continued recovery of the Argentine economy is still facing considerable challenges, with the continuous improvement of Argentina's debt sustainability and the effectiveness of measures to deal with inflation, the recovery of the Argentine economy has emerged. According to data recently released by the Argentine National Institute of Statistics and Census, Argentina has ended its three consecutive years of economic recession. In 2021, the real GDP of Argentina will increase by 10.3% compared with the previous year, including construction, hotels and restaurants, fisheries, and manufacturing industries. 16 major economic fields, including agriculture, animal husbandry and forestry, performed well. Except for a slight decline of 0.3% in agriculture, animal husbandry and forestry, other fields have rebounded.

Argentina is rich in mineral resources, and there are more than 80 kinds of oil, natural gas, coal, iron, uranium, beryllium, lithium, copper, silver, etc. that have development value. Among them, lithium ore reserves are 1.7 million tons, ranking third in the world, accounting for more than 10% of the world. In recent years, the global new energy automobile industry has developed rapidly, and lithium resources, as the main raw material for the production of new energy automobile batteries, have seen a sharp increase in the application demand in the market, which in turn drives the development of the lithium mining industry. In this context, Argentina's rich lithium resources have attracted mining companies from all over the world to invest. There are currently 10 lithium mine investment projects at different development stages, and it is expected that the relevant projects will be put into operation by the end of 2025. Although the Argentine government attaches great importance to the development of the lithium industry, at present, due to the relatively backward mining and processing technology and equipment, local Argentine companies only have a relatively large competitive advantage in the field of raw ore mining, and still lack talents and technologies in the field of processing There is still a large market space in the future.

Argentina is a signatory to several international intellectual property treaties and agreements, and a member of the World Intellectual Property Organization and the World Trade Organization. According to the domestic and overseas intellectual property applications in Argentina released by WIPO in recent years, the total number of patent applications in Argentina is not large, but it is in a state of continuous increase from 2017 to 2020, and the proportion of non-resident and overseas patent applications is quite high. In 2020, non-resident and overseas patent applications accounted for more than 75%, showing a high degree of friendliness to overseas applicants.

Introduction to the Argentine Patent System

1. Argentine patent application filing language

spanish

2. Types of patent protection in Argentina

Inventions, utility models, designs

3. Paths for Chinese applicants to apply for patents in Argentina

Paris Convention (Argentina is not a member of the PCT system and cannot enter the Argentine national phase through the via Nationalization of PCT )

4. Review unit

Argentina National Institute of Industrial Property, full name: Instituto Nacional de Propiedad Industrial, referred to as INPI. Part of the Argentine Ministry of Production (Ministerio de Producción), responsible for the implementation of intellectual property protection in Argentina. The main responsibilities of INPI are:
- Manage and resolve all matters related to the application, licensing, development and transfer of invention patents and utility models;
- Registered brands, utility models, industrial designs and technology transfer contracts;
- To provide the public with various types of information related to industrial property rights;
- Participate in international forums and negotiations on intellectual property rights.

5. Submit your application

(1) Time limit requirements: INPI does not accept the restoration of the priority right. Invention and utility model patents must be filed within 12 months of the priority time limit; designs must be filed within 6 months of the priority time limit.

(2) Submitting the application: online application, mailing and submitting a written application in person at INPI. No matter which way the application is filed, the application date of the patent is the time when the patent applicant sends the complete patent application text to INPI.

(3) The official language of the patent application in Argentina is Spanish. The application can be submitted in any language, but its notarized Spanish translation needs to be submitted within 10 working days from the filing date.

6. Formal examination, publication and granted

Both invention and utility model patent applications in Argentina need to undergo formality examination and substantive examination. For patent applications that pass the preliminary examination, within 18 months from the date of patent application, the Argentine National Institute of Industrial Property will publish it in its "Patent Gazette" . Within 60 days from the publication date of the invention patent application, and within 30 days from the publication date of the utility model patent application, anyone can view the content of the patent application and make comments. A patent application that has passed the substantive examination will be granted a patent, and the announcement of the granted patent will be published in the "Patent Gazette" of the National Patent Office.

Designs are only subject to formality examination.

Features of Argentine patents

1. Argentine patent applications have strict requirements on the Spanish translation of the application documents. The translator needs to sign and notarize the affidavit, and the Power of Attorney and the inventor's statement must be notarized and certified by the Argentine embassy in China;

2. An Argentine invention patent application can be converted into a utility model application and vice versa during the formality examination process;

3. The average granted time for invention patents in Argentina is 5 years. If you want to speed up the process, you can submit PPH for accelerated review;

4. The Argentine patent law has designed an opposition period of 2 months after publication, and the third-party public opinions that appear within this period will become a key factor in whether the patent application can be granted;

5. Argentina is an important agricultural country in the world, and has therefore become an important country for global biological companies to deploy their biological gene sequences. China is an equally important agricultural country, and Argentina is one of the countries that must be paid attention to.

Friendliness to Chinese applicants:

★★★

Gold content of patent rights:

★★

The degree of perfection of the rights protection mechanism:

★★