According to the current (July-August) edition of the PCT Newsletter, a number of recommendations were endorsed at a recent meeting of the PCT Working Group.
One of these, reportedly due to be implemented in the near future, is to develop an online system to accept third party observations in relation to pending PCT applications. This will enable any person having information (typically prior art) relevant to the validity of claims in a pending PCT application to submit that information via a web form hosted on the WIPO site. The submitted documents would be accessible to international examiners, to examiners in the various national offices, and to third parties (via the PATENTSCOPE service).
Similar provisions are already in place at some national patent offices. For example, any third party can submit observations and pertinent prior art in respect of any application pending before the European Patent Office (EPO), which will generally be considered by the Examining Division. In Australia, section 27 of the Patents Act 1990 provides for any person to submit information to the patent office that may affect the validity of the claims of a patent application.
The proposed system will enable relevant information to be brought to the attention of examiners, and applicants, at an earlier stage of the application process. This should provide benefits to all stake holders:
- third parties concerned about the validity of patent claims that may impact upon their businesses will be able to submit prior art via a single international interface, rather than having to do so before separate national offices (where permitted);
- the attention of international examiners, and examiners in national offices, may be drawn to prior art known to persons with relevant industry knowledge, that might not be easily identifiable through searching;
- applicants may become aware of relevant prior art at an earlier stage, before committing to the filing of national applications; and
- the patent system generally may be improved by providing additional avenues by which relevant prior art may be brought to light.
Before You Go…
Thank you for reading this article to the end – I hope you enjoyed it, and found it useful. Almost every article I post here takes a few hours of my time to research and write, and I have never felt the need to ask for anything in return.
But now – for the first, and perhaps only, time – I am asking for a favour. If you are a patent attorney, examiner, or other professional who is experienced in reading and interpreting patent claims, I could really use your help with my PhD research. My project involves applying artificial intelligence to analyse patent claim scope systematically, with the goal of better understanding how different legal and regulatory choices influence the boundaries of patent protection. But I need data to train my models, and that is where you can potentially assist me. If every qualified person who reads this request could spare just a couple of hours over the next few weeks, I could gather all the data I need.
The task itself is straightforward and web-based – I am asking participants to compare pairs of patent claims and evaluate their relative scope, using an online application that I have designed and implemented over the past few months. No special knowledge is required beyond the ability to read and understand patent claims in technical fields with which you are familiar. You might even find it to be fun!
There is more information on the project website, at claimscopeproject.net. In particular, you can read:
- a detailed description of the study, its goals and benefits; and
- instructions for the use of the online claim comparison application.
Thank you for considering this request!
Mark Summerfield
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