Common Examination Practice Rules and Quality Management

Vision

While fully honoring the current legal system of the participating members, the project is dedicated to shape IP5's common examination practice rules, quality management framework, examination quality review standards and evaluation standards. The purpose of the project is to enable the offices to understand and utilize one another's examination practice rules, to send basically consistent information to applicants, to simplify formality for applicants, to exercise patent examination at basically same quality level, and eventually to build better trust in quality among the IP5, thus serving work sharing.

Background

With the development of technology and economy, patent applications grow steadily. The mounting patent examination workload of offices has led to a slowing down of examination speed to meet demand. At the same time public expectation of patent examination quality is greater than ever. Offices share the common challenge of improving quality while maintaining efficiency.

With respect to patent examination systems, offices have placed emphasis on examination quality and adopted many effective measures. However, there still exist differences to various extents in examination practice rules, quality management, examination quality review standards and evaluation standards, which may lead to inconsistent examination processing standards and results for identical issues among offices. In the meantime, such differences in examination quality management system, quality review and evaluation standards, etc., may impede offices from building sufficient trust of one another's examination quality, which would restrain the smooth implementation of the relevant foundation projects and effective sharing of work results, failing the requirements of IP5 cooperation. 

Other foundation projects mainly aim to improve examination quality and efficiency with measures such as refining examination tool and capacity building of personnel. Common Examination Practice Rules and Quality Management looks to provide examiners with guidance as to their discretion and individual behaviors, improve examination quality management as a whole, build trust of one another's examination quality and provide basic support to sharing of work results.

Contribution to Work Sharing

Promote communication and understanding of IP5 in examination practice rules,quality management system, examination quality review standards and evaluation standards, share best examination practice and examination quality management practice, adopt one another's work results to harmonize operation and reach common development.

Through establishing common examination practice rules and quality management, build better trust on quality, faciliate smooth implementation of relevant foundation projects, provide essential support to improve relevant foundation projects and increase sharing efficiency of work results.