CHAPTER I – INTRODUCTION
1. General
1.1
The present Manual for the examination of patent applications has been
written with the aim of providing a comprehensive reference guide for
both IPO patent examiners and the general public on matters of patent
law and interpretation. The Manual gives instructions as to the
practice and procedure to be followed in the various aspects of the
substantive examination of Philippine patent applications in accordance
with Republic Act No. 8293 (“IP-code”) and the implementing Rules and
Regulations (“IRR”). They are addressed primarily to the staff in the
IPO, but it is hoped that they will also be of assistance to the
parties to the proceedings and patent practitioners.
1.2
The Manual is intended to cover normal occurrences. It is therefore to
be considered only as general instruction. The application of this
Manual to individual patent application is the responsibility of the
examining staff and they may depart from these instructions in
exceptional cases. Nevertheless, the parties can expect the Office to
act as they are revised. It should be noted also that the Manual does
not constitute legal provisions. For the ultimate authority on practice
in the IPO, it is necessary to refer firstly to the IPO-code and the
IRR.
2. Format
2.1
It will be noted that in this Manual, the text has been divided into
Chapters, each sub-divided into numbered Sections which are further
sub-divided into paragraphs. Cross-references to other paragraphs
within this part are in a standard form quoting in each case the
Chapter, Section and paragraph number (thus e.g., III, 6.5 means
paragraph 6.5 in Section 6 of Chapter III).
2.2
Marginal references indicate the relevant Sections of the IPO-code or
the relevant Rules of the IRR, which provide authority to what is
stated. It is believed that such references avoid the need for
extensive quotation from the IP-code and the IRR themselves.
2.3 In this part of the Manual, the term “examiner” is used to mean the Examiner entrusted with substantive examination.
2.4
In this part also, an attempt has been made to deal with the
requirements of the application in earlier Chapters and to concentrate
matters of procedure in Chapter VI. However, it has not always proved
practicable to draw a hard and fast line between these aspects of the
work.
3. Work at the Bureau of Patents
3.1
It is important that the various departments of the Office and various
staff in the same department should not attempt to duplicate one
another’s efforts. For example, the substantive examiner should.
not attempt to check the formalities work performed by his colleague
in the formality division. One of the purposes of the Manual is to make clear where the demarcations of the responsibility lie.
3.2
The attitude of the examiner is very important. He should always try to
be constructive and be helpful. While it would of course be quite wrong
for an examiner to over look any major deficiency in an application, he
should have a sense of proportion and not to pursue unimportant
objections. He should bear in mind that, subject to the requirements of
the IP-code and the IRR, the drafting of the descriptions and claims of
an application is the responsibility of the applicant or his
representative.
3.3
It should hardly need stating that all patent applications, regardless
of their country of origin should receive equal treatment.
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