Highly Renowned Trademarks in Brazil

Updated to reflect Normative Ordinance INPI/PR 68/2026 on multiple registrations.

Brazil offers one of the world’s strongest trademark protection regimes for brands with exceptional public recognition. Obtaining that status, and keeping it, requires navigating the administrative process before the Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial (“INPI”) with the right evidence at the right time.

In this note, “highly renowned trademark” is used as the English rendering of marca de alto renome. The expression is sometimes translated as “high-reputation trademark”.

Quick Read

• Highly renowned status grants cross-class protection: the trademark is protected across all goods and services, not only within its registered class.
• Recognition is not automatic. It requires a formal application before the INPI, supported by robust evidence and, in practice, statistically sound market and image surveys.
• Normative Ordinance INPI/PR 68/2026, published on 29 April 2026, now allows trademark owners to indicate more than one Brazilian registration in a single high-renown application, provided the request concerns the same trademark sign.
• The new multiple-registration rule is useful for brand owners with the same sign registered in different classes, but it also creates maintenance risk: if one indicated registration is extinguished or annulled, the highly renowned recognition may be lost.
• The INPI’s survey standards are now more prescriptive: nationwide coverage, representativeness across the Brazilian population, at least 2,000 interviewees, a minimum confidence level of 95% and recent data are expected.
• Internal business data alone, such as sales figures and advertising spend, will not suffice. Public perception evidence remains central.
• Highly renowned status is different from a “well-known trademark” under Article 126 of the LPI. They are separate legal categories with different thresholds and effects.
• Recognition is granted for a fixed term and must be actively renewed. Failure to renew means reverting to ordinary class-specific protection.

1. Legal framework

Trademark protection in Brazil is governed by the Industrial Property Law (“LPI”), which establishes the general principle of specialty: trademark rights are generally limited to the class of goods or services for which the mark is registered.

Article 125 of the LPI creates a significant exception. A trademark registered in Brazil and recognised as highly renowned enjoys special protection across all fields of activity. The INPI describes this as protection that causes the mark to appear across all classes in the database used for trademark searches, allowing later conflicting applications to be refused even outside the original class.

This mechanism is designed to prevent:

• undue association with unrelated products or services;
• dilution of the trademark’s distinctiveness; and
• damage to the brand’s reputation or prestige.

Highly renowned trademark versus well-known trademark

Brazilian law recognises two distinct categories of enhanced trademark protection that are often confused.

A “well-known trademark” under article 126 of the LPI protects a mark that is well known within its relevant sector, even if it is not registered in Brazil. It operates within the same field or branch of activity.

A “highly renowned trademark” under article 125 of the LPI involves a higher threshold. The mark must be known to a broad portion of the Brazilian public and, crucially, must be registered in Brazil. Only Article 125 status provides full cross-class protection.

2. Requirements for recognition

Recognition as a highly renowned trademark is not self-executing. It requires a formal administrative application before the INPI, through the specific petition for recognition of high renown, supported by evidence that the sign has achieved public recognition justifying protection beyond its original class.

Under Ordinance INPI/PR 8/2022, as amended, the evidence is assessed around three fundamental questions: recognition of the sign by a broad portion of the Brazilian public in general; the quality, reputation and prestige that the public associates with the sign and the products or services designated by it; and the degree of distinctiveness and exclusivity of the sign.

Criterion	What the INPI looks for
(a) broad public recognition	The sign must be known to a broad portion of the Brazilian public in general, not merely within its own industry segment.
(b) association with goods/services	Consumers must correctly associate the sign with the products or services covered by the relevant registration or registrations.
(c) reputation, quality and prestige	The public must associate the sign and the relevant goods or services with quality, reputation and prestige.
(d) distinctiveness and exclusivity	The sign must have a strong degree of distinctiveness and exclusivity, reducing the risk that recognition is merely descriptive or generic.
(e) use and market exposure	Evidence of continuous use, advertising, distribution and media exposure remains relevant, although it is secondary to public perception evidence.

3. April 2026 procedural update: multiple registrations may now be indicated

On 29 April 2026, the INPI published Normative Ordinance INPI/PR 68/2026. The INPI also issued an official notice explaining that the new rule is already in force and allows owners to indicate more than one trademark registration in requests for recognition of high renown under article 125 of the LPI.

3.1 What changed?

The new rule amends article 64(3) of Normative Ordinance INPI/PR 8/2022. The request must still refer to a single trademark sign, but the owner may now indicate more than one registration containing that same sign. The request may be filed at any time during the term of the respective registrations.

This is not a licence to combine different brands or different signs into a single highly renowned application. The application must concern one sign. The practical change is that a portfolio of registrations for the same sign, including registrations in different classes, can now be presented more coherently in one request.

3.2 Why does it matter?

The change is commercially significant for diversified brands. A fashion brand, for example, may use the same sign across clothing, bags, eyewear, perfumes and retail services. Before this change, the procedural structure could force an artificial focus on one selected registration even where the reputation of the sign was supported by a broader portfolio. The new rule better reflects how major brands are protected and commercialised.

3.3 Portfolio-management risk

The flexibility comes with a maintenance risk. Normative Ordinance INPI/PR 68/2026 also amends article 68 of Normative Ordinance INPI/PR 8/2022 so that, once high renown is recognised, the INPI records that condition in the registrations that gave rise to the recognition. It further provides for loss of effect where one of the registrations forming part of the recognition is extinguished or declared null.

The INPI’s own guidance, therefore, advises owners to choose carefully which registrations to include. Every registration included in the request should be reviewed for validity, renewal dates, ownership chain, vulnerability to cancellation or nullity challenges, and consistency of the sign. Including weak or vulnerable registrations may create avoidable risk.

3.4 Practical filing points

• Use the multiple-registration option when it strengthens the evidentiary story for the same sign across different goods or services.
• Do not include registrations merely because they exist. Include them only if they are valid, strategically relevant and unlikely to become vulnerable during the protection period.
• Check whether the signs are rigorously identical, especially where older device, stylised, colour or composite marks are involved.
• Use the INPI’s declaration model for indicating more than one registration where applicable.
• Treat renewal and chain-of-title management as part of the highly renowned strategy, not as a separate housekeeping matter.

INPI’s declaration template is here: declaration for indicating more than one registration.

4. Evidence and documentation

The INPI does not grant highly renowned status on the strength of commercial success alone. Applicants must build a coherent and methodologically sound evidentiary file. Market and image surveys are now the central pillar of that file, although other evidence can and should be used to reinforce the conclusion.

Typical supporting materials include:

• market and image surveys assessing recognition, association, quality, reputation and prestige;
• advertising and marketing investment data;
• sales figures, revenue data and market share in Brazil;
• geographic scope and distribution reach within Brazilian territory;
• duration and continuity of use of the trademark in Brazil;
• media coverage, press mentions, spontaneous media use and third-party awards or recognitions;
• evidence of attempted dilution, parasitic use or enforcement history; and
• prior INPI or court decisions acknowledging the mark’s strength or reputation.

Self-serving internal documents may be useful background evidence, but they are unlikely to be decisive unless supported by credible evidence of public perception in Brazil.

5. Market and image survey standards

The INPI’s evidentiary approach has become more detailed and technical. Portaria INPI/PR No. 25/2025 amended Normative Ordinance INPI/PR 8/2022 to refer expressly to nationwide market and image surveys and to provide that survey parameters are established in the Manual of Trademarks.

5.1 Core survey requirements

• The survey should be quantitative and include objective questions about knowledge of the mark, association with the relevant goods or services, and perceptions of quality, reputation and prestige.
• The sample must be nationally representative of the Brazilian population in general, not limited to consumers of the goods or services identified by the mark.
• The sample should represent Brazil geographically, including capitals, metropolitan regions and interior municipalities, proportionally across all regions.
• The sample should also be representative by sex, age, education level and economic class.
• The survey must present a minimum confidence level of 95%.
• The survey should involve at least 2,000 interviewees, with representativeness across the five Brazilian regions.
• The survey should be recent. The Manual states that it should have been conducted no more than two years before the filing date of the highly renowned request.

5.2 Recognition thresholds

The Manual states that recognition is assessed by reference to the proportion of the overall sample that both knows the mark and correctly associates it with the goods or services specified in the relevant registration. A recognition result of at least 61% of the total sample, after deducting the margin of error, is required for the survey to reflect recognition by a broad portion of the Brazilian public. Where the result falls between 61% and 71%, a robust complementary evidentiary set should also be submitted. Above 71%, the survey may be sufficient for that element, without prejudice to the submission of additional supporting evidence.

5.3 Practical effect

• Market research should be designed before filing, not retrofitted after an INPI office action.
• The survey must test the registered sign in a way that does not influence the respondent’s answer.
• For device, mixed, three-dimensional and position marks, the survey must allow respondents to view the mark.
• For marks containing elements that obviously identify the product or service, those elements may need to be suppressed unless doing so would mischaracterise the mark.
• The survey report should fully describe methodology, sampling, recruitment, weighting, questions, order of questions and raw/weighted bases.

6. Legal effects of recognition

6.1 Cross-class protection

Once the INPI formally recognises a trademark as highly renowned, the mark is protected across all classes of goods and services, not just the registered class. A third party cannot validly register or use a confusingly similar sign in a different commercial sector if that would cause confusion or improper association with the recognised mark.

6.2 Preventive blocking of conflicting applications

The INPI can refuse applications that conflict with a recognised highly renowned mark, even where the applicant operates in an unrelated market. This preventive effect can also support challenges to existing registrations where the statutory and procedural requirements are met.

6.3 Anti-dilution protection

Protection extends beyond direct source confusion. It covers uses or registrations that may dilute the recognised mark’s distinctiveness or take parasitic advantage of its reputation. This is particularly important for premium, luxury, technology, entertainment, consumer goods and franchise brands.

6.4 Duration and renewal

Highly renowned recognition is recorded by the INPI and, according to INPI guidance and Normative Ordinance INPI/PR 8/2022, lasts for 10 years. The owner may file a new request in the final year of the protection period, supported by current evidence, so that a new annotation can begin immediately after the existing protection expires.

Where recognition is based on multiple registrations for the same sign, the owner should treat maintenance of each indicated registration as part of the highly renowned strategy. Extinction or nullity of one of the indicated registrations may compromise the continued effect of the recognition.

7. Practical considerations for foreign trademark owners

• Brazilian registration is a prerequisite. A mark cannot be recognised as highly renowned in Brazil unless it is registered with the INPI. Foreign registrations alone do not suffice.
• Evidence must be Brazil-specific. Global brand surveys may help contextually, but the INPI requires proof of recognition among the Brazilian public.
• Where the same sign is registered in multiple Brazilian classes, consider whether the April 2026 multiple-registration procedure creates a stronger and more efficient filing strategy.
• Each registration proposed for inclusion should be audited before filing: validity, renewal dates, ownership chain, pending disputes, nullity risk, and whether the sign is truly identical.
• Local counsel and a qualified research firm should be engaged early. The evidentiary file now requires legal strategy and statistical discipline.
• Lead times are significant. Building the file and running a compliant national survey can take time, so applications should be planned well before an enforcement deadline.
• Highly renowned status is most valuable when actively enforced. Monitoring conflicting INPI filings and taking prompt action against infringers is necessary to preserve the commercial value of the status.

Final note: Litigation and challenge risk

A grant of highly renowned status can be contested. Third parties affected by the resulting cross-class protection may challenge the INPI’s decision administratively or before the federal courts. Maintaining comprehensive and well-organised evidence of recognition over time is essential, both for initial recognition and for defending that status later.

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Last modified: 20 May 2026