IPOPHL helps ITSOs address formality examination findings

Nearly 160 participants from the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines’ Innovation and Technology Support Office (ITSO) network took advantage of the Online Paper B Training conducted by a team from the IP Management and Technology Transfer Division of the Documentation, Information, and Technology Transfer Bureau (DITTB) last month.

The training aimed to enable ITSOs to analyze the contents of a formality examination report (FER) and respond properly to it.

An FER is a document containing IPOPHL’s findings on the completeness of requirements submitted by IP applicants. Being able to appreciate the contents of an FER and respond to it in a timely manner, an applicant may have a better chance of securing a grant for patent grant or registration for utility model and industrial design.

A feature of the Paper B Training allowed for the participants to draft their response which they later on presented in the virtual plenary for critiquing. As a result, participants were able to correct and improve their output instantly.

Participants were also guided in submitting their FER responses through the eDoc file, IPOPHL’s digital facility for post-filing transactions.

The full course brief of the 3-day Training is shown below.

Day 1

1. Review: Patents and patentability requirements; the use of Prior Art documents
2. Difference between novelty and inventive step in reference to the prior art documents
3. Examples of Formality Examination Reports (FER)/ Substantive Examination Report (SER)
4. Prior art analysis
5. Assignment: Exercise (Accomplishing the analysis matrix)

Day 2

1. Presentation of Outputs (Analysis matrix)
2. Writing the Response letter
3. Assignment: Exercise (Writing the response letter)

Day 3

1. Presentation of Outputs (Response Letter)
2. Applying the analysis and writing of the response letter for their respective FERs/SERs; Q and A

Participants were researchers from the ITSO network who are due for a response to an FER or are expecting to receive their FERs soon. Most of the participants had completed a series of patent writeshops previously conducted by the DITTB.

The Paper B Training has proven useful for innovators in securing IP protection. One success story reflecting this is that of the Negros Oriental State University (NOrSU).

The university recently received a communication from IPOPHL’s Bureau of Patents (BOP) stating its 2018 filed patent for a “Portable Precision Drilling Machine Enhancer” had pending requirements. NOrSU then participated in one of the DITTB’s Paper B Training which led it to secure the BOP’s favorable decision on the university’s patent application.

The Paper B Training is one of many capacity building initiatives offered for free by IPOPHL to the ITSO member institutions.

The ITSO is IPOPHL’s flagship program in fostering innovations in higher education institutions and research organizations across the country. (Janina Lim, Media Relations Officer/IPOPHL)