– The Industrial Property Code, enacted by Decree-Legislative No. 4/2007 of August 20, 2007.
– Decree No. 22/2007 of August 27, 2007.

– Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), in force since July 7, 1997.
– WTO’s TRIPS Agreement, since July 23, 2008.
– The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (Apostille), since February 13, 2010.
– Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, Stockholm Act, since July 6, 2022.
– Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), since July 6, 2022.
– ARIPO, Harare Protocol on Patents and Industrial Designs, since October 14, 2022.

Applicant: the inventor(s) or his successors in any title. 

Foreign applicant: must appoint a local agent. 

Patentability: (a) invention of any new artifact or marketable article; (b) the creation or accomplishing of any new means or processes or the new application of means or processes already known for obtaining an artifact or material result; (c) the improvement or an invention already patented provided that it makes the manufacture of the product or the use of the invention easier or less expensive or enhances its utility.

Novelty: worldwide.

Exceptions to protection: (a) ideas without practical application and that cannot be industrialized by mecano-physical or chemical means; (b) inventions which exploitation will be contrary to the law, public health or security or accepted principles of morality; (c) foodstuffs and pharmaceutical products and preparations for the human or animal use; the devices or the systems for producing said products are patentable; (d) chemicals defined or resulting from defined elements with a total or partial reaction of them; the processes of obtaining them are patentable; (e) the aggregation or juxtaposition of known inventions, alterations of shape, dimensions or materials, unless combined in such way that they cannot function separately or their properties or characteristic functions are modified and in any case a new industrial result is obtained; (f) application to an industry of an invention already known or used for another industry; (g) inventions that are not new.

Limitations: each patent application is only for one patent and each patent is limited to one invention.

Filing requirements for an application (to be sent to resident agent):
1. Name, nationality, profession and domicile of the owner of the invention;
2. The title that sums up the invention;
3. The country and date of a prior invention, if priority is claimed;
4. A description in Portuguese or accompanied by an official translation;
5. An abstract;
6. Drawings (2 copies);
7. Power of attorney.

Examination: after sixty days have elapsed from the publication.

Rights derived from a prior use: are protected. 

Opposition to application filed: within sixty days from the date of publication of the application.

Duration: twenty years from the filing date after which the patent becomes public domain.

Annuities: must be paid.

Assignment: must be made by a notarial public deed.

Compulsory working: the owner of a patent is obliged to directly or indirectly exploit his patented invention, within the term of three years from the date of the grant of the patent. 

Compulsory license: the invention may be exploited by third parties: (1) if the invention is not exploited within three years from the granting within the relevant territory and to satisfy the market’s needs; or (2) if the owner ceases the exploitation of the patent without any just cause; or (3) if the exploitation is essential for the country’s economy.

Opposition: possible within one month from granting.