Prosecution

Patent granting procedures

A patent procedure usually begins by submitting a Dutch, European or international (PCT) patent application. Within the first 12 months – the priority year – from submitting the first patent application, a new application may be submitted for another country or region on the basis of the first patent application.

 

Evaluating patent applications

Basically, two systems exist:

  1. The examination system allows the patent granting authority to verify whether the application intrinsically complies with several requirements such as novelty, inventive step and industrial applicability. To this purpose the patent granting authority carries out the so-called searches to determine the state of the art.
  2. In a so-called registration system, the  patent granting authority will only  verify whether the application meets the legal procedural requirements. Usually the patent granting authority does carry out searches although the outcome does not directly influence with the patent granting decision.

In the Netherlands a registration system prevails. Europe and the United States apply the examination system.

 

Example

A Dutch inventor may follow below steps:

  1. The inventor is not yet certain of the commercial possibilities of his invention, but he is interested in discussing them freely with investors and clients. So he submits a patent application for the Netherlands on 1 MAR 2010, the date that marks the beginning of the priority year.
  2. The inventor then discusses the invention with national and international investors and clients. They embrace the invention after which the further development of the invention follows smoothly. And because the search outcome was positive, on 28 FEB 2011, so within 12 months from the Dutch submission, the inventor decides to submit an international (PCT) application seeking protection outside the Netherlands.

  3. Within 30 months from the start in the Netherlands, no later than 1 SEP 2012, the inventor, on the basis of the international applications, may initiate procedures in specific countries or regions, for instance to ensure national protection in the United States, Europe, Japan and China.

Possibilities

The above example is only one of the numerous routes possible. Your advisor at Nederlandsch Octrooibureau will be pleased to advise you on the granting procedure that fits you best.