In many countries, when an applicant applies for an invention patent, it needs to go through a strict substantive examination procedure, although the stability of such a patent right is higher, but correspondingly, the authorization time is longer and the difficulty is greater, and many applicants' applications are easy to "fall" at this level. So, is there any country where an invention patent can be granted without substantive examination, and the answer is yes!Today, Xiaowei will give you an inventory of those countries where invention patents do not require substantive examination.
Luxembourg
Patents for invention in Luxembourg are divided into "short-term invention patents" with a protection period of 6 years and "invention patents" with a protection period of 20 years. There is no substantive examination of invention patents in Luxembourg, and the applicant needs to file a search request within 18 months from the filing date, or submit a search report issued by any official search agency within 18 months from the priority date, and the determination of novelty in the search report does not affect the grant of the Luxembourg patent in the application.
Among them, short-term patents adopt a registration system, which only needs to be granted after submitting the patent application documents and being accepted, and then passing the preliminary examination, without going through the novelty examination, and the cycle is generally about 6 months.
South Africa
South African invention patent applications generally do not need to go through substantive examination, as long as they pass the formal examination of the South African Intellectual Property Office, they can be granted, and the applicant can obtain the patent right in about 6-12 months.
According to the relevant provisions of the South African Patent Act, there is a certain time limit from the time of application to the grant. The deadline for granting a patent application for the first time and directly into South Africa through the Paris Convention route is 18 months from the filing date, while the grant period for a PCT patent application entering South Africa is 12 months from the filing date. If the application fails to meet the requirements for formal examination or does not request a delay in grant before the time limit specified above, the application will become invalid.
Laos
The patent examination in Laos is based on the results of the examination of the patent by the patent office of other countries, and the Lao Patent Office itself does not have an independent examination system, for example, if a Chinese patent application has been authorized by the China National Intellectual Property Office, then it can be granted in Laos accordingly.
Netherlands
In order to lower the patent threshold, the current patent system in the Netherlands is a registration system, and invention patent applications can be granted without substantive examination as long as they comply with the relevant provisions and procedural requirements of legal documents.
However, the patent applicant must file a request for novelty search within 13 months from the filing date. Approximately 9 months after filing the application, the applicant will receive a search report and written opinion and 2 months to make amendments or file divisions. The results of the search do not affect the granting of the patent. After 18 months from the priority date, the patent will be automatically granted and published in the public patent database.
Lithuania
The National Patent Office of Lithuania does not conduct substantive examination of patents, but only checks whether the application documents are submitted in its entirety, i.e. the application only needs to go through a formal examination, and after the requirements are met, a decision on grant will be issued. A patent certificate will be issued after payment of the grant fee and publication fee.
Nigeria
A patent for invention in Nigeria only examines the formal content, such as whether the required documents are complete, whether the fees have been paid, and whether the invention is unitary. If the application does not meet the requirement of unitarity, the applicant may file a divisional application within three months from the date of notification. Nigeria does not have a system for the publication of applications, and the Gazette is issued immediately after registration, and there is no opposition system in the application process. The examination period is 6-18 months, and the term of protection is 20 years from the date of application.
Switzerland
After the filing of the patent application, the IGE initiates a preliminary investigation to check whether the submitted documents correspond to the contents of the application, confirms that the minimum requirements for continued examination are met, and after passing the preliminary examination, the invention patent application is published within 18 months from the priority date. Swiss invention patents are subject to substantive examination, but only the invention and technical documents are examined to meet the legal requirements, and novelty and inventive step are not examined, so it can be directly regarded as "no substantive examination". After passing all the examination procedures, if the examiner deems that the conditions for grant are met, the official will grant the patent right without charging the patent grant fee and publication fee.
Belgium
Belgian invention patent applications are subject to formal examination only and are published within 18 months from the date of filing (or priority date), and publication is granted. The applicant needs to file a novelty search with the Patent Office, which will issue a search report. Even if the search report shows no novelty or inventive step, it does not affect the grant.
For applicants who urgently need to obtain patent certificates quickly, they can choose these countries, but the stability of patents without substantive examination will be weak, so it is best for applicants to choose the right patent application based on their actual needs.