Resolution of the SPTO Director establishing the PCT Direct service in the framework of SPTO international procedures
Written By
Partner
Spain
I am a partner in Bird & Bird's Intellectual Property department in the Madrid office.
The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) does not provide, within its procedures, any means of establishing a dialogue between the applicant and the examiner before the International Searching Authority.
In order to significantly improve the chances of obtaining a positive written opinion in the international phase, the European Patent Office (EPO), as an International Searching Authority, implemented the PCT Direct service in 2014. This service, which was implemented with the aim of improving the efficiency and quality of the procedure before the EPO, allows applicants to file informal observations on the objections raised in the written opinion on the earlier application whose priority is claimed.
The Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (SPTO), as an International Searching Authority, applies Chapter 21 of the PCT International Search and Preliminary Examination Guidelines, which, although not binding, are designed to assist International Searching Authorities and International Preliminary Examining Authorities (ISA/IPEA) during the practice of such procedures, establishing a minimum set of criteria that each administration should use as a model for establishing its own quality management mechanism, in order, inter alia, to establish procedures for the timely issuance of high quality search…
