1860 International Preliminary Examination Procedure
|
I. EXAMINATION PROCEDURE
After the demand is checked for compliance, the first step of the examiner is to study the description, the drawings (if any), the claims of the international application, the documents describing the prior art as cited in the international search report, and the written opinion established by the International Searching Authority.
A further written opinion is usually not mandatory where the written opinion of the International Searching Authority is treated as the first written opinion of the International Preliminary Examining Authority.
II. FURTHER WRITTEN OPINION SHOULD BE ISSUED
Any further written opinion established by the International Preliminary Examining Authority should set forth, as applicable:
- (A) Any defects in the international application concerning subject matter which is not required to be examined or which is unclear or inadequately supported;
- (B) Any negative findings with respect to any of the claims because of a lack of novelty, inventive step (non-obviousness) or industrial applicability;
- (C) Any defects in the form or contents of the international application;
- (D) Any finding by the examiner that an amendment goes beyond the disclosure in the international application as originally filed;
- (E) Any observation which the examiner wishes to make on the clarity of the claims, the description, the drawings or to the question whether the claims are fully supported by the description;
- (F) Any decision by the examiner not to carry out the international preliminary examination on a claim for which no international search report was issued; or
- (G) If the examiner considers that no acceptable nucleotide and/or amino acid sequence listing is available in a form that would allow a meaningful international preliminary examination to be carried out.
