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4.1.6 Recording the Search Details

Date Published

The Search Information Statement (SIS) is used as a definitive record of the search undertaken during national examination, including the strategy used and the three person team (if convened).

It is a useful record for examiners directly involved in examination of the application or examining related applications. The SIS is also required for internal QA processes and to meet the needs of applicants, opponents and other third parties, as well as foreign patent offices to which evidence of the search may be given.

Therefore, it is important that the SIS is filled out comprehensively. The details to be recorded on the SIS, instructions on its use and examples are given in 4.1 Annex D – Search Information Statement. (Instructions for recording sequence and chemical structure searches are provided in 4.1 Annex E. To record details of an EPOQUE X-Full search, see 4.12.6.2.12 Generating the Search Strategy From an X-Full Search).

Note: Where a SIS is generated as part of an adverse report by DocGen, examiners are to dispatch the SIS with the report

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