Technical Assistance for Substantive Examination

(PCT Art. 50 and Art. 51)

WIPO provides technical assistance for substantive examination of patent applications to patent offices of developing countries, which is based on Articles 50 (Patent Information Services) and 51 (Technical Assistance) of the PCT. It is managed by the Cooperation on Examination and Training Section of the International Cooperation Division. The assistance comprises the three areas below:

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Examination in PCT National Phase


Applications which are filed as PCT national phase entries or by claiming a Paris Convention priority right constitute the majority of the workload of patent offices in least developed (LDC) and developing countries (DC).

For offices with limited examination capacities, the most effective strategy to examine such applications is to utilize the examination work products from other national phases (work-sharing).

WIPO provides training and further support for work-sharing in various ways. Two virtual workshops conducted early 2022 were recorded and are available here, including all training materials:

[More on examining foreign applications by work-sharing and related training]

International Cooperation on Examination (National applications)

The number of applications received from local innovators is for most LDCs and DCs much smaller than foreign filings. While they constitute a smaller part of the workload in numbers, they represent often bigger challenges because foreign work products are not available and the examiners have to conduct full substantive examination, in particular the prior art search by themselves.

WIPO's International Cooperation on Examination (ICE) service may, upon request, support such offices with search and examination reports prepared by ICE donor offices, and respective training.

[More on using WIPO's ICE service]

Coordination of Patent Examiner Training


The PCT Working Group (WG) has identified better coordination of patent examiner training for LDCs and DCs as an important topic for strengthening the global patent system. It regularly conducts surveys on training activities organized for the benefit of such countries. It invited an initial concept paper for improving coordination and sustainability of training, and monitors progress, as well as a compilation on e-Learning resources for patent examiners.

[More on patent examiner training infrastructures and management]