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 Banner: Working together towards a sustainable patent system

Common Application Format (CAF)

 Vision

  • each Office accepts domestic and PCT applications in Common Application Format (CAF) to make filing procedure for multiple countries easier.
  • all applications are filed with Offices electronically or digitized (XML format) by the Office of First Filing (or Receiving Office) at an early stage
  • all procedures following the filing of an application (i.e., office actions, amendments etc.) are processed and the applications are published in XML format at each Offices

Contribution to Work Sharing

  • CAF enables examiners to understand foreign specifications more easily, especially, validation of priority and search of patent specifications.
  • Early digitalization enhances Office publication of applications in XML format, enhancing searches due to availability of full text data
  • International and domestic applications are electronically processed in unified manner due to CAF in each Office