Workshops on Advanced Patent Search and Examination

In 2021, IP Key South-East Asia (SEA) invited senior patent examiners from the patent offices of Malaysia (12 16 April), Indonesia (3 7 May), Vietnam (7 9 June), and Thailand (14 16 June) to attend the ‘Workshop on Advanced Patent Search and Examination’ organised by the project in collaboration with the European Patent Office (EPO). The four national workshops aimed to establish a platform for the exchange of best practices between European patent search experts and senior SEA patent examiners. The workshops contributed to further improving the efficiency of the search and examination process and the capability of SEA patent examiners, especially when dealing with complex patent applications. The activity also aimed to promote consistency between patent search and examination results in Europe and South-East Asia.

During the workshops, the participating SEA patent examiners were encouraged to share their experience dealing with patent applications in their offices. Patent search strategies and the search and examination of various inventions, namely computer-implemented inventions, mixed type inventions and inventions in the field of pharmaceutical and biotechnology, were discussed during the sessions.