Collaborative Search Pilot

The expanded Collaborative Search Pilot (CSP) provides applicants who cross-file their patent applications internationally with search results from multiple offices early in the examination process. It is designed to accelerate examination and provide the applicant with more comprehensive prior art by combining the search expertise of examiners at the USPTO and the Japan Patent Office (JPO) or the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) before issuing a first office action. Benefits include:

  • Greater consistency in examination across offices leading to more certainty of IP rights.
  • Applications will be taken out of turn resulting in expedited first action on merits.
  • Combined search expertise provides more comprehensive prior art.
  • Collaborative examination requires fewer office actions to complete prosecution (on average, compared to non-CSP applications).
  • And it’s FREE to file a petition for your application.

Applicants wishing to take advantage of the benefits of the expanded CSP need to have unexamined corresponding counterpart applications in the USPTO and either/both KIPO and JPO. No-cost petitions need to be filed in the USPTO and at the desired partner office(s), in accordance with their rules. The combined petition form is a petition option designed to meet the petition request needs of both offices in a pilot and need only be submitted to one office.  You can read more about the combined petition form in the Federal Register Notice announcing their incorporation.

Are you ready to incorporate the CSP into your international patent filing strategy?

 

File the original CSP petition form via Patent Center to get expedited, consistent IP protection. Alternatively, you can file a CSP combined petition form PTO_437_JP to either USPTO via Patent Center to JPO for the USPTO/JPO pilot or PTO_437_KR to either USPTO via Patent Center or to KIPO for the USPTO/KIPO pilot.

 

We want to hear directly from you, our stakeholders. Please send your questions, feedback, and ideas about CSP to us at CSP@uspto.gov. If you need assistance with viewing or downloading the CSP PDF forms, please contact the Patent Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free) or 571-272-4100 from 6 a.m. to 12 Midnight Eastern Time, Monday - Friday.

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Logo for the Collaborative Search Program Pilot on a thin blue banner with the world map faded in the background.