Brazil's H04 telecommunications patent accelerated examination will be suspended starting in 2026.

The Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BPTO) has issued a new regulation: effective January 1, 2026, all patents with H04 (Electric Communication Technology) as their primary classification will temporarily cease to accept priority and expedited examination requests, including those under the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH).

The BPTO stated that this measure aims to optimize the workload allocation of the telecommunications technology examination department, ensuring a balanced distribution of examination resources while maintaining the quality and procedural efficiency across all technical fields. The high volume of applications and sustained demand for acceleration in the telecommunications sector are the direct background for this specialized suspension.

The following statutory categories are not affected by this suspension: elderly applicants, applicants with disabilities, applicants with serious illnesses, and applicants from Brazilian startups.

• Priority/expedited requests deemed inadmissible under the new restriction will proceed in the regular queue without any procedural acceleration effect.
• Any amendments submitted simultaneously with an inadmissible priority/expedited request will not be considered.
• Official fees paid for priority/expedited requests that are deemed inadmissible can be refunded upon request by the applicant or their agent.

The BPTO's global annual cap for PPH requests, set at 3,200 cases, remains unchanged. Even if the global quota has remaining capacity, after the suspension takes effect, priority/expedited requests for H04 classification cases will no longer be accepted.