Simplified Special Regime for Brazilian Startups (Inova Simples)
The innovation in Brazil
According to the Global Innovation Index Report of 2018, Brazil ranks first in Latin America and the Caribbean and fourth among the middle-income economies.
In the overall ranking, it is in the 28th place, with a reduction in the score related to patent families, regardless of the results achieved by the University of São Paulo, the University of Campinas, and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, together with the qualification of the scientific publications.
(CORNELL UNIVERSITY; INSTEAD; WIPO. The Global Innovation Index 2018: Energizing the World with Innovation. Ithaca, Fontainebleau, and Geneva, 2018. <https://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/wipo_pub_gii_2018.pdf>. Retrieved on August 20, 2019).
Simplified Special Regime for Brazilian Startups (Inova Simples)
In view of the importance of Startups in the process of converting innovation into economic return, the Complementary Law No. 167 of April 24, 2019 was published, and the Inova Simples was instituted as “a special simplified regime granted to incremental or disruptive business initiatives that are self-declared Startups or innovation companies with differentiated treatment in order to encourage their creation, formalization, development, and consolidation as agents that induce technological advances and the employment and income generation”.
Startups
According to paragraph 1 of the new art. 65-A of the Complementary Law No. 123 of December 14, 2006, the Simples Nacional Law, a Startup is understood as “an innovative company that aims to improve systems, methods, or business, production, service, or product models, which, when already existing, characterize Startups of an incremental nature, or, when related to the creation of something completely new, characterize Startups of disruptive nature".
National Network for Simplification of Registration and Legalization of Companies and Businesses (Redesim)
The Complementary Law No. 167 of 2019 has the great merit of establishing a competitive advantage to Startups by enabling them to have a legal birth simultaneously with the application for registration of their trademarks and the granting of patents, especially when the demonstration of protection of the innovation is essential to obtain investments.
Faster Patents
INPI has regulated the priority processing for patent applications filed by Startups. As of July 30, 2020, the companies registered with Redesim may request the priority processing of their applications for patent. In the first semester of 2020, the time of decision of priority applications (from the application date) was 13.4 months. The goal is to decide, at the end of 2020, the priority applications for patents of Startups in 12 months.