The National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI), through Resolution INPI P-297/2026, approved new Regulations for the Administrative Resolution of Oppositions against trademark applications.

The new regulations seek to streamline and simplify the procedure, mainly through the automation of proceedings and the consolidation of evidentiary proceedings.

Among the main changes is the elimination of the separate evidence stage. Documentary or instrumental evidence must be submitted by the parties when they expand upon the grounds of the opposition or respond to the opposition, as applicable.

These regulations will apply to oppositions filed against new trademark applications filed on or after March 1, 2026, inclusive. On the other hand, oppositions filed against new trademark applications submitted on or before February 28, 2026, inclusive, will continue to be processed through completion under the previous procedure and the rules, stages, deadlines, and requirements applicable to them.

The Argentine Patent and Trademark Office (INPI) has issued Resolution 139/2026, introducing changes to trademark prosecution practice in Argentina by eliminating the use of attention calls.

This amendment follows the procedural framework introduced by Resolution P-583/2025, under which trademark applications are substantively examined before publication in the Trademark Gazette.

Under previous practice, third parties could file attention calls to alert the Trademark Office about potential conflicts or objections concerning pending trademark applications. Although these filings were not formal objections, they were used in practice prior to substantive examination to draw the examiner’s attention to potential grounds for refusal. The Examiner could either disregard such arguments or issue an official action based on them.

Resolution 139/2026 establishes that attention calls will no longer be admitted for trademark applications filed as from 1 March 2026. Any third-party challenges must instead be submitted through formal opposition proceedings.

The Resolution also eliminates the automatic conversion of unratified oppositions into attention calls. If the corresponding maintenance fee is not paid, the opposition will lapse and the administrative opposition proceeding will not be initiated.

These measures aim to simplify and streamline trademark prosecution procedures in Argentina under the new examination-before-publication system.

The Argentine Patent Office has issued Resolution 142/2026, introducing an important amendment to the procedural framework established under Resolution 56/2016 regarding accelerated patent examination based on corresponding foreign applications.

As background, Resolution 56/2016 allows patent applicants in Argentina to voluntarily rely on granted claims from corresponding foreign patent applications in order to facilitate and potentially streamline substantive examination before the Argentine Patent Office, provided that certain requirements are met.

Under the previous regime, applicants could only request the application of Resolution 56/2016 before substantive examination had commenced. Resolution 142/2026 significantly expands this possibility by allowing applicants to invoke the mechanism at any stage of prosecution prior to the final decision, even after substantive examination has already started.

This amendment provides applicants with increased strategic flexibility, as it enables them to assess the evolution of prosecution both in Argentina and abroad before deciding whether to rely on granted foreign claims. In practice, this may be particularly useful in situations where favorable examination results or granted claims in foreign jurisdictions become available only after examination has already begun in Argentina.

The remaining requirements established under Resolution 56/2016 continue to apply. Among other conditions:

• the Argentine claims must be equal to or narrower than the granted foreign claims;
• there must be no Argentine prior art affecting novelty;
• the claimed subject matter must not fall within excluded patentable subject matter;
• any third-party observations or oppositions must have been evaluated by the Examiner;
• the foreign Patent Office involved must apply patentability standards equivalent to those applied in Argentina; and
• the corresponding official fee must be paid.

The amendment introduced by Resolution 142/2026 may create additional opportunities for applicants seeking to optimize prosecution strategies for pending patent applications in Argentina, particularly in coordination with developments in foreign jurisdictions.

On 9 December 2025, Resolution INPI P-583/25 was published in the Official Gazette, through which the Argentine National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) introduced two key changes that substantially affect both the scope of trademark examination and the dynamics of the registration procedure in Argentina.

1. Limitation of the ex officio examination

Under this new regulation, the ex officio examination conducted by the National Directorate of Trademarks is now limited to absolute grounds for refusal and matters related to public order. Conflicts involving third-party rights, such as similarity or likelihood of confusion with prior trademarks, will no longer be examined ex officio and may only be addressed if raised by third parties through oppositions or invalidation actions.

This limitation of the ex officio examination is effective immediately and applies to all new trademark applications currently pending, regardless of their procedural stage. As a result, the assessment of potential trademark conflicts now depends largely on the initiative of owners of prior rights.

2. Reorganization of the registration procedure

The Resolution also reorganizes the stages of the registration process by providing that the formal and substantive examination will be carried out prior to publication of the application. If no objections are raised and no oppositions are filed within the statutory 30-day period, the trademark will be granted directly. In the event of an opposition, the existing procedure will continue to apply.

This new procedural framework will enter into force on 1 March 2026 and does not affect the current sequence of the procedure until that date.

These changes are intended to streamline the trademark registration process and significantly reinforce the importance of trademark monitoring by owners of prior rights, who will need to actively oversee new filings and timely assert their rights where appropriate.

We remain available to assist with the analysis of these changes and with the implementation of trademark monitoring and protection strategies in Argentina.

We were pleased to attend the 2025 INTA Annual Meeting in San Diego. It was a great opportunity to reconnect with colleagues, expand our professional network, and stay up to date with key developments in the IP field.

Miguel Miranda, Claudia Miranda, Pedro Nicolás Miranda Honaine, and Alejandro Rossi represented our firm at the event.

According to Resolution No. 2024-364, published on August 28, 2024, applicants with pending patent applications claiming priority under the Paris Convention may be notified by the Patent Office to confirm whether the claimed priority has been granted in the country of origin, regardless of the current stage of their application.

This notification will be published in the Patent Gazette and must be responded to within SIXTY (60) days from the date of notification, with no extensions allowed.

Failure to respond will result in the application being considered abandoned.

In July 2024, the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) issued Resolution P-295/2024, amending the trademark opposition resolution procedure. This new regulation requires applicants who wish the Trademark Office to decide on pending ratified oppositions to pay a single official fee, regardless of the number of oppositions filed against their application. This fee must be paid within the unextendible deadline for filing a response to the ratification of the opposition, which remains unchanged. Failure to pay the fee will result in the rejection of the application.

The regulation also includes a temporary provision whereby the T.O. will request applicants who had not responded to ratified oppositions which are pending resolution to pay the official fee within the unextendible term of fifteen (15) working days of the notification; otherwise, the application will be rejected. Additionally, no new notifications of ratified oppositions will be issued until this process is completed.

It is important to note that, prior to this resolution, applicants who had received ratified oppositions against their trademark applications were not required to pay any fee nor to express their will for the Trademark Office to render a decision in the opposition process.

This measure aims to reduce the backlog of applications with ratified oppositions awaiting resolution and expedite the overall process.

On August 17, 2023, the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) issued Resolution No. 262/2023, extending WIPO’s Digital Access Service (DAS) for priority documents to applications for Trademarks and Industrial Models and Designs.

This resolution will be implemented in two stages:

• As a WIPO DAS Accessing Office, as of September 1, 2023
• As a WIPO DAS Depositing Office, as of November 1, 2023

Official fees for Trademarks, Patents and Designs are to be increased in two stages—in January and March 2023.

Fees for new trademark applications: the new trademark application fee will cover up to twenty goods or services of the selected class. An additional fee will be applied for each good or service as of the twenty-first.

The new official fees will become effective on January 2, 2023.