Resolution 142/2026 of the Argentine National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI), published on May 13, 2026, eases access to the mechanism established under Resolution P-56/2016 by providing that the accelerated patent procedure may be requested at any stage of the prosecution process, thereby seeking to simplify and expedite patent prosecution in Argentina.
What changes under Resolution 142/2026?
Resolution P-56/2016 established a Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) in cases where an equivalent patent has already been granted abroad by a patent office that conducts substantive examination and applies patentability criteria comparable to those of Argentina. In such cases, INPI may deem the requirements of Article 4 of the Argentine Patent Law, as well as the international search requirement, to have been fulfilled.
Prior to this modification, applicants could only request application of the regime established under Resolution P-56/2016 for applications whose substantive examination had not yet begun. That limitation has now been expressly repealed.
In this regard, the new wording of Article 5 allows applicants to voluntarily request application of the regime at any time during the process before the issuance of the administrative act of granting or rejecting the application. To do so, applicants must still submit amended local claims aligned with those granted abroad, together with the corresponding translation of the foreign claims.
The National Patent Administration must issue a decision within 60 days from the filing of the request.
Practical impact for patent holders
The reform, which is already in force, has a positive impact for patent applicants by removing the time limitation for accessing the accelerated patent procedure, with the aim of expediting patent protection in Argentina.
For more information on how to protect your invention or whether these changes apply to pending patent applications, please contact our Patents team at info@lermanszlak.com.
