Title: | Sections 17, 18, 18A and 18B of the Patents Law No. 5727 of 08/08/1967 |
Field of IP: | Patents |
Type of flexibility: | Substantive examination |
Summary table: |
17.-(a) The Registrar or an examiner shall examine whether the application meets all the following conditions:
(1) the invention in it is patentable within the meaning of Chapter Two;
(2) the application complies with the provisions of Article One of this Chapter;
(3) the applicant paid the publication expenses under section 26.
(a1) The examiner shall accept the application of he is satisfied that the conditions of this section have been met; when he has accepted the application, he shall so notify the applicant; the notice shall state the acceptance date.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a)(1), no examination shall be necessary if the invention is unpatentable by virtue of section 4(2).
(c) If the conditions specified below are met by an application, then it shall be deemed to have complied with the provisions of section 4, 5, 8, 12 and 13:
(1) the applicant submitted a patent application on the same invention (in this section: parallel application) and received a patent in a state, the name of which appears in the list published by the Registrar in Reshumot (in this section: parallel patent), and all the following hold true:
(a) priority right was lawfully claimed for the patent application in Israel under section 10, by virtue of the parallel application;
(b) priority right was claimed for the parallel application under the Law applicable to it, by virtue of the patent application in Israel;
(c) priority right was lawfully claimed for the patent application in Israel by virtue of another application for protection submitted in a Convention State, and by virtue of the other application priority right was claimed for the parallel application under the Law applicable to it;
(2) the applicant requested in writing that the provisions of this section be applied to his patent application;
(3) the applicant delivered to the Office the claims in the parallel patent, translated to the language in which his patent application was submitted in Israel;
(4) the claim or claims in the application are identical to the claims in the parallel patent, but the application can include fewer claims that those in the parallel patent;
(5) the applicant submitted a description and drawings identical to those in the parallel patent, or a description and drawings as said in section 12.
(d) The Registrar and also the Superintendent of Examiners or his deputy may refrain from accepting an application, if they determined on the basis of the material at their disposal or submitted to them in the course of the examination that the application does not comply with one of the provisions specified in subsection (c) or that there is some other special reason why the application should not be accepted.
(e) If proceedings for cancellation of the parallel patent are in progress, or if proceedings of opposition to the grant of the parallel patent outside of Israel are in progress, then the applicant shall so notify the Registrar not later then the date on which the patent is granted in Israel.
(f) For purposes of this section, "state"-including a group of states who maintain a joint system for the grant of patents.
[Additional means of examination]
18.-(a) The examiner shall use at least one of the following additional means of examination:
(1) the list of documents used by patent authorities in any foreign state in the examination of a patent application on the same patent application, submitted in a foreign country by the applicant or by his predecessor in title to the invention;
(2) a list of documents published before the application date, known to the applicant and directly connected with the invention;
(3) copies of publications and documents, a list of which the applicant must submit under this Article, if the examiner so demands;
(4) copies of publications and documents mentioned in publications and documents, a list of which the applicant must submit under this Article, if the examiner so demands;
(5) transmission of the specifications of the application-in order to search for material that will enable the Office make the examination-to an institution is Israel or abroad, with which the Office contracted under any Law by an agreement drawn up by the Registrar, including a section on keeping any patent application confidential and on nondisclosure under section 165;
and to that end he may do one or more of the following:
(1) require the applicant to submit to him all the documents specified in paragraphs (1) to (4);
(2) transmit the specification in the application for the search said in paragraph (5).
Applicant must keep Office informed
18A. Until the application is accepted the applicant must keep the Office informed of any change in the list of publications and documents said in section 18, if he or his representative was made aware of the said changes.
Notice of institutions that assist in the examination
18B. The Registrar shall publish a notice in Reshumot of the institutions with which the Office contracted under section 18(5), and of the categories of applications in respect of which he intends to use the means specified in the said section.