USPTO to Accept New Applications for PCT Collaborative Search and Examination Pilot
Written February 6, 2019
Beginning July 1, the United States Patent and Trademark Office will accept new international applications to the IP5 Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) Collaboration Search and Examination Pilot (CS&E). The pilot was launched by the five largest intellectual property offices in the world (IP5) on July 1, 2018, and allows examiners from all five offices, with different working languages, to collaborate on the search and examination of a single international application. The result is an international search report and written opinion from the chosen international searching authority based on contributions from all participating offices. Benefits to applicants include a search done by multiple examiners in different languages, increased predictability of outcome, and no extra cost. The pilot aims at assessing user interest for a CS&E product and the expected efficiency gains for offices.