INPI’s Strategic Plan 2020-2023

2020 was an atypical year, affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This irregular year coincided with the first year of implementation of INPI’s Strategic Plan 2020-2023. This pandemic crisis has definitely changed paradigms and ways of working, thus making it imperative to change INPI's relationship with its users and stakeholders. Despite all the constraints experienced, INPI continued its activity and carried out what the office had proposed for 2020, and even reinforced some areas.

In the first strategic goal - Promoting excellence within the organisation - human resources and their safety were registered as the main concern. Although the majority of the staff started working from home, it was possible to maintain the levels of efficiency and quality of the services provided. In this context, and using the digital tools available, it was also possible to preserve good levels of motivation, developing initiatives for encouraging team spirit and improve internal communication. There was an increase of 3.4% in the number of hours of training, boosted by the conversion of on-site training to online training, as a response of the training bodies to the pandemic situation.

Also noteworthy is the renewal - for the 14th consecutive year - of INPI’s certification of the Quality Management System by the standard NP ISO 9001: 2015, confirmed by remote external auditing.

As regards the second strategic goal - Ensuring quality in granting and protection of IP rights – and despite the required legislative and operational adjustments, IP users have not overlooked the importance of investing in technology, innovation and research for the development of the economy, but essentially of science and of technological evolution. Hence, and as far as inventions are concerned, there was a record of 1,124 filings, resulting from a 16.5% growth in relation to the number of filings submitted in the same period of the previous year.

As concerns trademarks and other distinguishing signs, which have always been the most used and requested modalities at INPI, and despite the constraints of 2020, there was only a break of 1.5%. Nevertheless, Design protection had a decrease of 4.1% on the number of applications for national design.

In terms of granting periods regarding trademarks and other distinguishing signs and design, there was a decrease in the average time for both regular and litigious processes. As refer to patents - and due to the growing demand for this IP right - the average patent decision periods increased.

The activity regarding the area of ​​administrative, judicial litigation and arbitration was high, especially the growth on the number of judicial appeals (34.2% compared to 2019) and in applications for the alteration of the decision (52.5% compared to the same period of the previous year). The less positive evolution registered in terms of administrative offenses and judicial decisions is directly related to the substantial changes in the deadlines and suspension of procedures during the exceptional and temporary period related to Covid-19 epidemiological situation.

The new competence assigned to INPI - the ​​Extinction of Rights area - registered a good number of applications for invalidity and expiry, thus indicating a clear confidence from the users in this INPI’s new area of competence. In 2020, 44 applications for the declaration of invalidity were submitted, 85% relating to Brands.

Thus, INPI has remained ON in the granting of Industrial Property Rights (IPR), following the demand on IPRs, complying with the legal deadlines established by the Industrial Property Code for the majority of the procedures and adjusting its operation to the legal requirements ensuing from the pandemic situation.

Enforcement of industrial property rights and the fight against counterfeiting was another area that continued to deserve special attention, mainly through the collaboration with the bodies involved in this process, namely GAC - Anti-Counterfeiting Group, OEIDPI - European Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights and the IPC - Intellectual Property Court. Also noteworthy was the virtual event ‘Iberian Anti-Counterfeiting Table’, with the presence of members of the governments of Portugal and Spain.

Regarding Customer Service, there was an overall rate of 98.33% of use of online services compared to the submission of paper documents. In total, 107.163 online procedures were registered (in 2019, only 95%). The number of procedures performed at INPI registered an increase of 11.5% compared to the same period of the previous year.

With the strategic purpose of Providing better services to the IP user, INPI diversified its communication channels, maintaining telephone and email contacts through the Linha Azul, resuming Face-to-face Service after a period of suspension from March to July (through online pre-scheduling), and introducing Online Service using Microsoft Teams platform.

Moreover, there were developments regarding IT tools and systems that will change the way users interact with INPI digitally. With a transversal impact across INPI, the ongoing digital transformation process has the main objective of introducing functional changes to the existing applications, in order to ensure a gradual improvement in both customer service and user experience, as well as operational efficiency.

In compliance with its Mission to Encourage and Support Innovation in Portugal, INPI’s activities to disseminate knowledge on the Industrial Property System (IPS) continued: regular publication of relevant content and news, through INPI website and social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube and more recently on Linkedin); training actions included in the training plan of INPI's IP Academy (now adjusted to the online format); and the participation in various events on industrial property, science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship. In this context, there was the IP Hackathon technological marathon that took place on February 28 and 29, 2020, aiming at developing proofs of concept aimed at Industrial Property-related challenges, exploring technologies of great potential.

As one of its main strategy aims is the strengthening of international cooperation and harmonisation, INPI continued the institutional representation of Portugal in the several IP fora outside Portugal, related not only to the negotiation process of several dossiers, but also regarding the participation in several working groups for cooperation and harmonisation of procedures of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the European Patent Office (EPO), the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the European Union (EU).

Despite the constraints resulting from the pandemic situation we are all experiencing, INPI initiated the activity of its Advisory Council, by holding its 1^st meeting. That was an important milestone, given that this Council is the supporting body the Directive Council in defining strategies that promote and value IP use in Portugal.

As regards financial resources, INPI’s activity focused on the continuous improvement of its purchasing processes, in total compliance with the law and always bearing in mind the importance of cost reduction and savings. Another concern during 2020 was the provision of accurate, reliable, timely and adequate financial information for the internal management needs as well as external requirements.

This year, the Portuguese economy experienced an abrupt drop in the real GDP growth rate [Gross Domestic Product] to 6.9%, as a result of the economic upset caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and related containment measures, which caused an increase in expenditure and a decrease in revenue from public accounts. Despite this general situation, INPI once again was able to present a high-income statement, thus enabling the increase of operating revenue, which more than offset the increase in operating costs.

INPI continued to pursue its strategy for investing in partnerships with national and international bodies, which, in recent years, has made it possible to maximize the activities carried out and achieve the objectives with lower costs. Hence, it is important to bear in mind that cooperation with International Industrial Property Organisations has enabled the participation in actions aimed at improving the Industrial Property System and developing the skills of INPI’s staff, with a considerable decrease in the costs involved.

INPI has been trying to pursue a management of public resources that is guided by high standards of transparency, accuracy, cost-effective, efficiency and effectiveness.