Cooperation on the Use of Search and Examination Capacity

When conducting patent search and examination, search and examination expertise and resources available in other offices may be utilized. Different ways of international cooperation have been explored.

WIPO International Cooperation for Patent Examination (ICE)

The International Cooperation for Examination (ICE) service of WIPO provides search and examination reports for patent applications filed with industrial property offices in developing countries which have limited substantive examination capacities for the preparation of such reports. The reports are prepared by various donor Offices on a pro-bono basis.

Regional/Plurilateral cooperation

Some patent offices use external resources to perform substantive examination, fully or partly, while maintaining the autonomy of the patent office to make a final decision on grant of a patent. For instance, some offices limit substantive examination to certain strategic fields of technology for the country concerned, while applications relating to other fields of technology may be subject to formality examination only or to outsourcing either within or outside the country.

Support System for the Search of Patent Applications for Central American Countries and the Dominican Republic (CADOPAT): CADOPAT provides support mechanisms for the search and substantive examination of patent applications to mainly countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region.

Bilateral Cooperation

For example, the following bilateral cooperation arrangements on the use of search and examination capacity exist between the following Offices:

Monaco−EPO Agreement. The Principality of Monaco signed an agreement with the EPO in 2008, whereby, when an application for a national patent is filed and if expressly requested by the applicant, the EPO produces a prior art search report to enable the applicant to assess the chances of subsequently obtaining a European patent.
Papua New Guinea. According to a cooperation agreement between Intellectual Property Office of Papua New Guinea (IPOPNG) and IP Australia, IP Australia conducts substantive examinations for patent applications on behalf of IPOPNG.
Portugal. The Portuguese Institute of Industrial Property (INPI PT) signed in 2016 an agreement with the Cape Verde Institute of Quality Management and Intellectual Property (IGQPI), according to which the INPI PT supports the IGQPI at its request in the analysis of patent, utility model and supplementary protection certificate applications. Since 2021, the INPI PT also has a collaborative project with the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office in SPC examination, which enables the exchange of best SPC examination practices between examiners of the two offices and the exchange of ideas on future SPC examinations. Afterwards, in 2022, the INPI PT signed two Agreements with the INPI Brazil and with the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office. These Agreements provide the exchange of patent examiners, with the aim of updating and increasing the exchange relations through reciprocal assistance mechanisms. INPI PT established a protocol with the European Patent Office (EPO) in which the EPO will carry out search reports with written opinion of patent applications. This collaborative activity will start after the amendments to the Industrial Property Code, which are currently under analysis, come into effect.
Italy. Within the national granting procedure novelty search is carried out by the European Patent Office, according to a specific Working agreement (search cooperation) and national patent law.
Dominican Republic. The National Office of Industrial Property (ONAPI) has concluded a cooperation agreement with the National Institute of Industrial Property of Chile, for support with and exchange of information on patentability examinations in the area of biotechnology.