Argentina: Decree No. 27/2018 of January 10, 2018, on the De-bureaucratization and Simplification of Administrative Procedures

January 12, 2018

Argentina: The Decree No. 27/2018 of January 10, 2018, on the De-bureaucratization and Simplification of Administrative Procedures was published in the Official Gazette on January 11, 2018, and entered into force on January 12, 2018.

It amends, inter alia, Law No. 22.362 of December 26, 1980, on Trademarks and Designations, Law No. 24.481 of March 30, 1995, on Patents and Utility Models and Decree-Law No. 6.673 of August 9, 1963, on Industrial Designs.

Chapter VIII (Articles 68-111) of the Decree introduces inter alia the following amendments on the simplification of administrative procedures related to trademarks, patents and industrial designs before the Argentinean National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI): (i) reducing the time to 3 months for the parties to reach a settlement during opposition proceedings, following which the INPI decides on the opposition; (ii) granting the authority to the INPI to handle trademark cancellation actions; (iii) entitling parties to appeal INPI decisions on trademark oppositions and cancellations to the Federal Civil and Commercial Court of Appeals; (iv) exempting applicants from filing the priority document of patent applications and its translation, unless requested by the examiners during the examination stage; (v) reducing the time limit for payment of fees for the substantive examination of patent applications from 3 years to 18 months; (vi) allowing multiple designs to be filed in a single application and the filing of divisional applications; and (vii) providing alternative period of renewal of design registration either 6 months before or after the date of its expiration.