Some national legislations provide the “grace period” and in Brazil it is allowed!
Grace period is the 12-month period prior to filing a patent, in which the patent inventor can disclose it without having complications, since it does not affect the “state of the art” during the examination. In other words, if the invention is disclosed before filing the Brazilian Patent Application, it will not lose its novelty.
That grace period rule is provided on Article 12 of the Brazilian Industrial Property Law No. 9,279/96:
“Art. 12. The disclosure of an invention or utility model shall not be considered to be state of the art if it occurred during the 12 (twelve) months preceding the date of filing or of priority of the patent application, if made:
I. by the inventor;
II. by the National Institute of Industrial Property, by means of official publication of the patent application filed without the consent of the inventor, based on information obtained from him or as a consequence of actions taken by him; or Continue Reading