PH renews subscription to EU patent search tool

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) has renewed its subscription to the European Patent Office QUEry (EPOQUE) Net enabling its patent examiners access to over 170 databases globally — to facilitate their patentability search.

IPOPHL Director General Josephine R. Santiago recently signed an agreement with European Patent Office President Benoît Battistelli in Germany.

This also prepares IPOPHL to continue its comprehensive patent search and retrieval capability especially as it prepares to operate as an international searching and preliminary authority by next year.

The EPOQUE, a prior art and retrieval tool of EPO, will enable IPOPHL’s roster of patent examiners to have access to over 170 databases including the EPO’s internal database as well as several commercial databases, to make their patentability search more efficient.

“The quality of search and examination depends largely on the tools used as well as the competence and ability of examiners. EPOQUENet is a very powerful tool that is widely used by many international authorities as well as IP Offices. This shows IPOPHL’s continued dedication to remain at par in expertise with internationally-recognized IP authorities and as well as its peers around the world,” Santiago emphasized.

IPOPHL patent examiners started using EPOQUENet in May 2017, and it is just one of multiple existing databases that IPOPHL examiners use.

EPOQUE Net allows searching of both patent and non-patent documentations. It is the system managed by the EPO for the performance of EPO’s tasks, whose main objective is the search and retrieval of all the information relating to a specific field of existing technology.

This patentability or novelty search is the first step in the process in the registration of a patent. This is done to ensure that patent applications involve new technology, processes or product.

Currently, IPOPHL’s Bureau of Patents uses Web of Science; STN (Scientific and Technical Information Network), IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), non-patent databases and publicly available databases.

This boost in efficiency is timely as the IPOPHL builds up capacity to begin operating as an International Search Authority and International Preliminary Examining Authority (ISA/IPEA), and process PCT applications for search and preliminary examination by April 2019.

Last October, IPOPHL was unanimously endorsed, and designated as an ISA/IPEA under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) as the 23rd country in the world, and only the 2nd in ASEAN during the WIPO General Assembly.

The Patent Cooperation Treaty allows applicants from PCT contracting parties to file for patent protection in multiple jurisdictions with just one application filed with their national patent office.

IPOPHL has been acting as a ‘PCT receiving office’ for PCT applications since it became a signatory to the treaty, but its capability has just been transmitting the international application to the WIPO and the ISA/ IPEA chosen.

Now as an ISA/IPEA, IPOPHL is capable of conducting the international search, preparing international search report and establishing written opinion for international patent applicants who select the Philippines as the competent ISA. Search and examination are key steps in the patent procedure to assess an invention’s novelty, industrial applicability, and inventiveness.

This capacity establishes the competence and expertise of IPOPHL to determine the patentability of international patent applications.

There are at least 45 national patent offices around the world using the EPOQUENet. IPOPHL’s access to EPOQUE Net is valid until December 31, 2022.