IP5 Collaborative Search & Examination Pilot Program - First Promising Results

On July 1, 2018, the IP5 offices launched the third phase of the Collaborative Search & Examination Pilot Program which will be operational throughout the next three years and at the end of which they will, together with the International Bureau of WIPO ("CS&E Pilot Group"), assess the results and possibly integrate it within the PCT legal framework.

The third phase of the program aims to provide the applicants with a collaborative search result. The International Search Report and written opinion will be drawn up by one of the IP5 offices initially designated as International Search Authority - the main ISA - under PCT Rule 35. Before delivery to the applicant, the main ISA will transmit its provisional search results to the four other offices acting as peer ISA who will perform their searches and provide the main ISA with their findings. They will be completed at the discretion of the search examiner of the main ISA, to the final International Search Report.

Each IP5 office acting as International Searching Authority agreed to receive 100 participation requests over the first two years of the pilot program, i.e., 50 requests per year, and no more than 10 applications per applicant. First come, first served! Each International Searching Authority is accepting participation requests filed along with a PCT application in English and will open the pilot program to other languages at a later time.

On September 14, 2018, the European Patent Office (EPO) announced that it had reached its quota for the Collaborative Search and Examination pilot project after only two months and a half from launch. As the main International Search Authority (ISA), EPO has accepted over 40 applications in the program to date. Applicants who file PCT applications in English and desire to participate in the pilot program must now await the opening of the second year (July 1, 2019) to make room for applicants filing PCT applicants in German and French languages. Participation requests for the latter...

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