Brazil’s INPI has recently disclosed that its industrial design area increased decisions by 106.6% in 2025 and is moving into a new upgrade cycle for 2026. The package includes a dedicated industrial design coordination structure, an expansion of first-instance examiners from 5 to 8 and second-instance examiners from 1 to 2, plus AI-supported prior-design search and automation projects. On INPI’s own public target, the median time for first-instance technical examination is being pushed down to 9 months, signaling a shift from a largely registration-style workflow toward a more search-driven, efficiency-oriented, and predictable examination model.
The practical significance is not just that the office is getting faster. For applicants, shorter timelines make early clearance, image presentation, and filing strategy more important; and once AI image-search tools are embedded in practice, similarity assessment and prior-design comparison may appear earlier and more systematically in official review. For design-led businesses, Brazil is sending a clear message: speed advantages will increasingly depend on the quality of pre-filing preparation, not just on being first to file.
