Brazil’s National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) issued Ordinance No. 07/2026 on 1 September 2026, easing the monthly cap for prioritized examination requests in telecommunications technologies classified under IPC H04, one of the areas facing the heaviest examination backlog. Under the new rule, each applicant may submit up to three H04 prioritized examination requests per month, compared with the previous limit of one. Requests will continue to be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, while startups and certain protected or vulnerable groups remain exempt from the monthly cap.
The change does not alter the broader eligibility framework for prioritized examination, but it gives frequent filers substantially more room to accelerate telecommunications cases. For companies managing larger H04 portfolios, the practical question is now less about whether a monthly slot exists and more about which applications should use it first. Cases tied to product launches, licensing discussions, standards-related strategies or financing milestones may deserve priority, and applicants should prepare request materials in advance because the first-come, first-served system still makes timing relevant.
