Brazil will soon join DAS

On December 1, 2017, Brazil will join the DAS system.  Brazil’s participation will be as a “depositing Office”.  Here is an example of how this participation will benefit patent applicants.

A first typical sequence of steps is:

1. Applicant files a priority patent application in the Brazilian patent office as Office of first filing.
2. Applicant requests the Brazilian patent office to make the priority application available to the DAS system.
3. Applicant receives a DAS Access Code from the Brazilian patent office.
4. Applicant files a second patent application in an Office of second filing.
5. Applicant provides information to the Office of Second filing:
   1. identity of Office of first filing (here, Brazilian patent office)
   2. application number for priority application
   3. filing date for priority application
   4. DAS Access Code for priority application
6. Office of second filing

Examples of eligible Offices of second filing which might obtain electronic certified copies of Brazilian patent applications, on and after December 1, 2017, are:

• AU – Australia
• CN – China
• EA – Eurasian Patent Office
• EE – Estonia
• ES – Spain
• FI – Finland
• GB – United Kingdom
• IB – International Bureau of WIPO
• JP – Japan
• KR – South Korea
• MA – Morocco
• NZ – New Zealand
• SE – Sweden
• US – United States

Importantly, the DAS system offers to applicants and patent practitioners the opportunity to monitor things closely.  For example:

1. Practitioner is making preparations to file a patent application in an Office of second filing.
2. Practitioner receives priority information from Applicant:
   1. identity of Office of first filing (here, Brazilian patent office)
   2. application number for priority application
   3. filing date for priority application
   4. DAS Access Code for priority application
3. Practitioner logs in at the DAS system, adding the priority application to the practitioner’s workbench in the DAS system.
4. Optionally, practitioner obtains a Certificate of Availability from the DAS system.
5. When the Office of second filing successfully obtains an electronic certified copy of the priority application from the DAS system, the practitioner receives an automatic notification from the DAS system.

Among the patent offices around the world that do not yet belong to the DAS system, perhaps the largest and most visible is the European Patent Office (EPO).  People at EPO assure me that EPO will join the DAS system in the second half of 2018.