According to Resolution 364/2024 (hereinafter, “the Resolution”) published in the Official Gazette on August 26, 2024, a new requirement has been established for patent applicants in the administrative granting procedure in Argentina.
In view of the increasing demand for patent applications in our country and the limited availability of examiners to perform the substantive technical examinations, this resolution has been implemented with the purpose of improving the efficiency of the Administration.
The Resolution applies to all pending patent applications at the time of its entry into force, and which claimed priority under article 4 of the Paris Convention, regardless of the stage in which they are pending.
In this sense, the Argentine Patent Administration is empowered to request the holders of pending applications to state, within a term of 60 calendar days as from its notification, whether the priority right invoked under the terms of Article 4(A)(1) of the Paris Convention has been granted or not in the country of origin. This obligation applies regardless of whether the substantive examination fee has been paid or not and regardless of the processing status of the application. In the absence of express manifestation by the applicant, the Argentine Patent Administration will consider the respective application as abandoned.
It is important to note that, once the term for replying has expired, the Argentine Patent Administration will issue a decision to be published in the Patent Bulletin, declaring the abandonment of the applications that have not complied with such requirement.
The purpose of the Resolution is to accelerate the processing of pending applications and reduce the backlog of numerous files awaiting a final resolution, improving the efficiency of the Argentine Patent Administration, and ensuring that only those applications in which the owners have demonstrated an active interest to obtain the patent will continue with the analysis of the merits of the application.
