PCT Collaborative Search and Examination Pilot

The PCT CS&E Pilot allows examiners from the IP5 offices (in their capacity as International Authorities under the PCT), with different working languages, to collaborate on the search and examination of a single international application. The result is an international search report (ISR) and written opinion (WO) from the chosen International Searching Authority (ISA) based on contributions from all participating offices.

Benefits of the pilot

• Search by multiple examiners with different language capabilities
• Increased predictability of outcome
• No extra cost

Purpose

The CS&E is intended to test user interest, operational and quality standards, and an electronic collaboration tool or platform. Two previous pilots provided important information and allowed the USPTO and partner offices to refine the operational working model. The pilot also aims to determine what effect collaboration has as far as quality of the work products and their subsequent effects on the national phase. 

Process

• The selected ISA will perform a search and prepare a draft ISR and WO. The draft ISR/WO and a record of the search will be shared with the other offices (peer offices).
• The peer offices will review the draft ISR/WO, perform additional searching as deemed necessary, and provide comments back to the main ISA, who will then prepare the final ISR/WO, taking into account the peer contributions.
• The sharing of documents and applications between offices will be done through the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) ePCT system.
• A visual depiction of the CS&E process can be found on the WIPO website.

Important dates and timeline

• Pilot Start Date: July 1, 2018.
• This is a 3-year pilot. The first two years are the operational phase. In the third year, we will study the impact in the national phase.

0 – 8 weeks (from receipt of search copy by main ISA):

Main ISA prepares and posts a provisional international search report and written opinion.

0 – 4 weeks (from posting of the draft ISR/WO):

Peer ISAs prepare and post peer contributions.

0 – 4 weeks (from the earlier of, expiration of the peer contribution period or receipt of all peer contributions):

Main ISA finalizes the collaborative search and examination work products (final ISR/WO), taking into account the peer contributions.

The CS&E Pilot comprises the IP5: United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), European Patent Office (EPO), Japan Patent Office (JPO), Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), National Intellectual Property Administration, PRC (CNIPA).

Note: Phase 1 of CS&E launched in 2010 and participating offices included USPTO, EPO, and KIPO. Phase 2 of CS&E occurred in 2011-2012 with the same participating offices, however the scale was increased to obtain a better data set for analysis of program benefits.

• Participation in the pilot requires a request to participate form to be submitted with the application as filed.  This can be generated using the system provided within ePCT or by uploading the form. 
• The participation form and the international application must be filed in electronic form at the receiving office (RO) of one of the IP5 Offices or at the International Bureau (IB) as the receiving office.
• Until languages other than English are accepted into the pilot, the participation form and the international application must be filed in English.

The following limitations of the pilot must be complied with in order for the main ISA to accept a request for participation in the pilot:

• Limit of ten international applications accepted into the pilot by the same main ISA per applicant.
• Each main ISA aims to accept 100 international applications into the pilot, spread over the course of two years. 
• The main ISA must not have considered that there is a specific reason (e.g., defect in the application, no sequence listing in text format complying with WIPO standard ST.25) impeding the processing of the application according to the timeline for the collaborative process.