Thursday, January 9, 2020

The USPTO is no longer accepting requests to participate in the IP5 PCT CS&E pilot

We have reached the total number of applications we can accept for the IP5 Offices' Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) Collaborative Search and Examination (CS&E) pilot, and will no longer accept new international applications.
Interested applicants can attempt to participate in the pilot through another International Searching Authority (ISA). Find information on the number of applications accepted into the pilot by each IP5 office in its capacity as an ISA on the CS&E pilot webpage of the World Intellectual Property Organization. 
IP5 launched this pilot on July 1, 2018. It allows examiners from all five offices, with different working languages, to collaborate on the search and examination of a single international application. The result is an international search report and written opinion from the chosen ISA based on contributions from all participating offices. The second year of the pilot runs from July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020. 
For questions and concerns about the CS&E pilot, contact Deputy Director of the International Patent Legal Administration Michael Neas at (571) 272-3289 or michael.neas@uspto.gov.