الفلبين

OFFICE ORDER NO. 85 ".. Series of 2012

RULES OF PROCEDURE FORTHE ASEAN PATENT EXAMINATION COOPERATION (ASPEC) PROGRAM

Section 1. Objective

The purpose of ASPEC is to sha re search and examination results among parti cipating ASEAN Member State (AMS ) IP Offices. This w ill not onl y allo w patent applicants making a requ est under ASPEC in any of the parti cipating offices to obtain corresponding patents faster and more effic iently, it will also help to ease the workload of the examiners , reduce work , increase turnaround time ; and generate better qualit y search and examination report.

Section 2. Coverage

The ASPEC program covers applications for patent filed in two or more AMS IP Offices . The IP Office where the appli cati on is first filed is herein referred to as "first IP Office " and the subsequent IP Office whe re the application is filed is herein referred to as "seco nd IP Offi ce" .

Section 3. Filing an ASPEC Request by Applicant - The Applicant himself or through the Local Agent submits to the AMS second IP Office :

a) A completed ASPEC Request Form (herein attached as Annex A); b) The Search and Exam Report from the AMS first IP Office, and c) A copy of the cla ims referred to in (b) .

All documents submitted for the purposes of ASPEC must be in English .

Section 4. English Translation Required - If the Search and Exam Report is not in Engli sh, then either (i) the Applicant arranges to submit an English tran slation of the ASPEC, or where preferred or if in accordance with the procedures and practice of the AMS IP Offices con cern ed, (i i) th e AMS second IP Office contacts the AMS first IP Office directly to obtain an Engli sh translation of the ASP EC documents . The tran slati on may be done by either the AMS first IP Offi ce or the Applicant him self or through his Local Agent.

The English translation of any ASPLC documents submitted may need to be verified acco rdin g to the requirements of the AMS second IP Office.

1 Republic of the Philippin es

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OFFICE Intellectual Property Center, 28 Upper McKinley Road, McKinley Hill Town Center

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Section 5. Effect ofIncomplete ASPEC Documents - If the AMS second IP Office determines that any ASPEC document submitted by the Applicant is not complete, the AMS second IP Office shall inform the Applicant to submit that document.

In the AMS first IP Office, the patent application shall proceed accordingly.

Section 6. Use of ASPEC Documents in Examination - The Patent Examiner in the AMS second IP Office proceeds to conduct the examination and can refer to the ASPEC documents only as additional reference.

Section 7. Filling out the ASPEC Survey Form - The Patent Examiner in the AMS second IP Office shall complete the ASPEC survey form and submit a copy to the AMS first IP Office and to the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore.

Section 8. Effectivity - These rules of procedure shall take effect on March 12, 2012.

For compliance.

ATTY. R~O B.~FLOR Director General

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ANNEX A

ASEAN PATENT EXAMINATION CO-OPERATION (ASPEC) REQUEST FORM

APPLICATION NC)o . "

APPlICANT(S) NAME

Further applicants are to be indicated on an additional sheet,

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NAME OF AGENT/ATTORNEY '

I; ADDRESS FOR

IJSERVICE1 I' I' ..

CORRESPONDING I, APPLICATION(S)2

* Documents submitted should ,include '

1. a copy of the search report '

2. a copy of the examination report .

3. a copy of claims .referred to in the examination report; and

4. a Claim correspondence . table (optional) .

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SIGNATUREI DATE

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., DOCUMENTS.~, ' ~11 . PRIORITY .COUNTRY CODE3 7 SUBMITTED'".. 'J:.,PPLICATION NofAPPL,ICAl I9 N N()iV .~ (YIN)

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1 Please indicate an address for service in the respective country that the ASPEC Request is filed. The address for service will be treated for all purposes connected with the ASPEC Request as the corresponding address of the person tiling the ASPEC Request. 2 An application from another ASPE C participating ASEAN Member State is a correspondin g application if: (i) it claims priority from the application ASPEC is being requested for, and vice-versa or (ii) it shares the same prior ity as another application of which the application ASPEC is being requested for claims from. 3 Please indicate the country code and the corresponding application number . Country codes of ASPEC participating ASEAN Member States: BN (Brunei Darussalam), KH (Cambodia). ID (Indonesia). LA (Lao PDR), MY (Malaysia), PH (the Philippines), SG (Singapore), TH (Thailand), VN (Viet Nam). 4 Please indicate the application number which the corresponding application claims priority from, where applicable.

ASEAN PATENT EXAMINATION CO-OPERATION (ASPEC) REQUEST FORM

CLAIMS CORRESPONDENCE TABLE (Optional) (PLEASE USE A FRESH SHEET AND PAGE NUMBERING FOR EACH COUNTRY'S LAST SEARCH/EXAMINATION REPORT SUBMITTED)

I CORRESPONDING APPLICATION NUMBI;R ~ _ ,. '

EXAMINEP CLAIMS EXPLA~ATION REGARDING THECLAIMS ININ CORRESPONDING CORRESPONDENCEAPPLICATION6APPLICATION 5 C< .

Sheet .... / ....

5 Please indicate the claim number relating to a claim that was examined in the corresponding application. 6 Please indicate the claim number relating to a claim in the current application which corresponds to the examined claim in the corresponding application.