Train-the-Trainers Programme for South East Asian Patent Examiners

Enhancing the quality of patent examination results, shortening turnaround times, and decreasing backlogs are common concerns of IPR stakeholders across SEA countries. As the capacities of patent examiners directly affect their productivity and performance, IP Key seeks to support its SEA partner countries through facilitating the development of a collective Training Programme for Patent Examiners of the SEA IP Offices.

Within this collective training framework, the SEA offices aim to adopt a common methodology and set of training materials to be used in conducting training for their patent examiners. These will be developed with the support of European patent experts, in light of global best practices on patent search and examination.

To facilitate the sustainability of the collective training programme, a Train-the-Trainers approach will be adopted based on establishing a unified “mentorship” program for patent search and examination. Under this activity, it is intended that the in-house training capacities for patent examiners of the SEA IP Offices are further enhanced.

The activity consists of two meetings, with the first one held in Manila, Philippines on 10-11 June 2019 and the second meeting planned 9-10 October 2019 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  The Project Implementation Plan for the patent examiner training programme discussed at the first meeting is expected to be finalized  at the second meeting in Malaysia.  The plan sets out the objectives, deliverables, planned activities, and required resources for the patent examiner training programme for IP Offices in SEA.