Applicants can voluntarily select either the General Granting Procedure or the Procedure with Preliminary Examination.
In both cases, once the SPTO has received the application and it has been formally examined, it will produce what is known as a State of the Art Report (SAR), indicating the documents judged by the examiner in charge to be related to the patent application analysed.
If the applicant opts for the General Procedure, the application will eventually be successful, provided that the applicant continues with the process and even though the SAR is unfavourable.
If the applicant chooses the Procedure with Preliminary Examination, the SPTO examines the patent request thoroughly and then grants or rejects it (either totally or partially).
