US, Russia Implement Patent Cooperation Agreement

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, New York

26 December 2011

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent) have implemented a cooperation agreement for international applications.

Rospatent will act as an available International Searching Authority (ISA) and International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA) for international applications filed with the USPTO as the Receiving Office (RO/US), under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). The starting date for the cooperation agreement is January 10, 2012.

The PCT is an international agreement that simplifies the filing of patent applications in its contracting States. A PCT application has the effect of a national application for a patent in any of the designated PCT states. The USPTO and Rospatent are two of the intellectual property offices authorized to conduct international searches and international preliminary examinations in the PCT system.

It is said that the addition of Rospatent as an available ISA/IPEA choice will allow applicants additional flexibility in choosing a given international authority based on the technology disclosed in the international application, speed of services provided and cost of obtaining searches and examinations of international applications.

An applicant selecting Rospatent as the ISA will pay a search fee of USD415. An applicant selecting Rospatent as the IPEA will pay an international preliminary examination fee in USD of an amount equivalent to RUB5,400 (USD168) and a handling fee of USD219. If the applicant does not have the international search performed by Rospatent, the examination fee will be the USD amount equivalent to RUB8,100.

“The collaboration between the USPTO and Rospatent will be beneficial for US applicants as it will provide additional choices at a lower cost,” said USPTO Director David Kappos, while the Director General of Rospatent, Boris Simonov, noted that “implementation of the agreement is an important step in bilateral cooperation between the offices and will promote better quality of patent examination.”

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