Brazil is first-to-file: the trademark belongs to whoever registers it at INPI, not to whoever used it first. Foreign brands learn this the hard way — usually when a local files their name. We get there first.
Brazil registers trademarks through a single federal body — the INPI (Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial) — and it runs on a first-to-file rule. The brand belongs to whoever files for it, in the relevant class, before anyone else; longstanding use abroad, or even use inside Brazil, generally does not beat a registration. This is the trap foreign companies fall into most often: they build a market here under their name, never file, and one day discover a local distributor, ex-partner, or pure opportunist has registered the mark and is demanding payment to release it. Recovering a hijacked mark is slow, contested litigation; filing first is a fixed, predictable cost.
Registration is organized by class under the international Nice Classification (Classificação de Nice), and this is where strategy matters. A mark is only protected for the goods and services in the classes you actually file — register your software in one class and someone else can still take your name for apparel or events. We start with a clearance search at INPI against existing registrations and pending applications, because filing a mark that collides with a prior one risks the government fee and invites an opposition (oposição) — which any third party can file within 60 days of publication. From the search we recommend which classes to file, how to describe the goods and services so the protection is broad but defensible, and whether to file as a word mark (marca nominativa), a figurative mark, or both.
Beyond trademarks, Brazil protects creative and technical work through other channels we handle alongside: copyright registration for literary, artistic, and audiovisual work at the Fundação Biblioteca Nacional's Escritório de Direitos Autorais, and software registration (registro de programa de computador) at INPI, which fixes a verifiable date and authorship for source code. For companies hiring developers, designers, or contractors here, we also write the IP assignment and confidentiality clauses that close the gaps Brazilian law leaves open. The defaults are not uniform: software written by an employee in the course of employment vests in the employer by force of law (Lei 9.609/98), but a general copyright work — design, text, audiovisual — needs a written assignment to transfer, and the ownership of work by an independent contractor turns on the contract and the facts. Where the paperwork is silent or the worker's status is arguable, that is exactly where ownership fights start. We draft so there is nothing to argue about.
Every price is itemized like an honest receipt — our flat fee, plus each government, registry and translation charge, estimated high so the number only ever moves down. Add a package to your cart and pay online, or request a quote for anything bespoke. Only value-based taxes are billed at cost; the final fee is confirmed in your engagement letter.
An INPI clearance search on your name, a clear filable / not-filable answer, and the classes we recommend.
Filing, goods/services drafting, and prosecution to certificate at INPI. INPI government fees billed at cost.
Source code registered as programa de computador at INPI, or a work registered at the Biblioteca Nacional.
Multi-class portfolios, oppositions, and infringement action against copycats — scoped and quoted per matter.
All-in estimates for English-speaking service to foreigners, with every fee we can foresee rounded up. Two cases with the same label can differ in scope — your engagement letter sets the final, written fee, and lines marked “at cost” (value-based taxes like ITBI and ITCMD) are passed through with receipts. Contested or litigated matters are quoted individually, never sold off a price list.
We search INPI for marks that conflict with yours and tell you, plainly, whether the name is filable as-is or needs adjusting.
Which classes to file, how to word the goods and services, and word vs. figurative — decided before any fee is spent.
Application filed at INPI; we monitor publication and the docket, and answer office actions and oppositions as they appear.
Certificate issued, registered in your name, with renewal dates calendared and optional monitoring for copycat filings.
Add a package above to start online, or describe your situation and a lawyer replies within one business day — no obligation, no hourly meter.