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• The European Patent Office re-uses the work done by SPTO examiners
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The European Patent Office re-uses the work done by SPTO examiners

The Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (SPTO) and the European Patent Office (EPO) have drawn up an agreement on the Utilisation Implementation Project (UIP).

According to this project, which forms part of the European Patent Convention and its Regulations, the SPTO systematically supplies the EPO with the patent examination work done by the SPTO (Search Reports and as yet unpublished Written Opinions) for European applications with Spanish Priority. The aim is to help improve the efficiency and quality of the patent system in Europe. In addition, Spanish applicants benefit in that they no longer have to provide the same information to the EPO.

Since the start of operation of the UIP project, the SPTO has responded to 373 applications from the EPO (an average of 46.5 per month), providing any Search Reports and Written Opinions already produced. This means that Spanish applicants have not had to submit such documentation to the EPO and that the European Patent Office examiners have been able to use the prior analyses performed by the SPTO examiners.