1.2.1 Procedural Outline - International Type Search

Date Published

Refer to RIO Manual for International Type Searches

  1. Initial processing by CEG
  2. Task is assigned to suitable search Examiner

  3. Check person requesting search is applicant

  4. Determine classification (a separate classification task(s) is created)

  5. Consider unity of invention

  6. Consider excluded subject matter

  7. Request written search statement (if applicable)

  8. Form 3 person team

  9. Perform Auto Prelim Search

  10. Search patent literature

  11. Search non-patent literature

  12. Order relevant non-patent literature from Library

  13. Download documents to RIO Citation Manager

  14. Assess which documents to be cited

  15. Check whether the Agent on file for the case matches an attorney firm listed in Annex ‘X’ of Volume 4.

    1. ​​​​​​​If the Agent is not listed in this Annex go to step 16. 

    2. If the Agent is listed in the Annex, then upload a copy of the ‘No analytics report required.rtf’ in the Patent Analytics tab of the Workbench. Although an analytics report is not required, examiners are to still select the "Request Patent Analytics Report" button in order for the workflow to be actioned by the Hub (as per the RIO Manual). Then skip step 16 and go to step 17.

  16. While drafting the Art 15(5) Search Report, upload the following information in the Patent Analytics tab of the Workbench:

a) A list of publication numbers from EPOQUE Viewer, as a .csv file (see 1.2.10 Annex D – Extracting publication numbers from EPOQUE viewer)

b) A complete transcript from STNext (if used), exported in standard rtf format (see 1.2.10 Annex E – Extracting patent information from STN)

c) Any patent documents to be cited in the Search Report that have been sourced through freely available databases or other IT searching tools (i.e. not EPOQUE or STN) need to be imported to EPOQUE Viewer, so that they can be included in the .csv file of publication numbers exported from EPOQUE Viewer, outlined in step (a) above (see 1.2.10 Annex D – Extracting publication numbers from EPOQUE viewer).

After the files are uploaded, an Analytics Report can be requested, which will create a parallel Analytics Report task for the Patent Analytics Hub.

Examiners should directly contact the patent analyst who has been assigned the analytics task in the following circumstances:

  1. to discuss assigned cases requiring urgent dispatch of the Art 15(5) Search Report or for the report to be sent out separately.
  2. to notify the analyst of a change or update to a file previously uploaded in the Patent Analytics tab of the Workbench.

For more general enquiries about Art15(5) analytics reports, examiners should contact the Patent Analytics Hub's Article 15(5) mailbox (MDB-Article 15(5) Analytics)

17. Prepare the rest of the Art 15(5) Search Report.

18. A notification will appear once the Analytics report is complete, the task can then be submitted. For cases where an Analytics report will be sent out separately (or is not required), the task can be submitted without the Analytics report.

Amended Reasons

Amended Reason Date Amended

Updated to reflect current practice to align with RIO Manual when no analytics report is required.

Updated to address IIP-121.