INAPI Starts Public Consultation for Patent Guidelines

The Instituto Nacional de Propiedad Industrial de Chile (INAPI) recently opened a public consultation process concerning the future "Directrices de Procedimiento de Registro Patentes".

This initiative originates in the context of Law 20,500 regulating citizen participation mechanisms in public administration and follows a similar consultation made in March 2012, which successfully concluded with the publication of "Directrices de Procedimiento de Registro de Marcas Comerciales".

This initiative, which will be open until March 31, seeks to receive the suggestions and opinions of users related to patent registration concerning the text subject to consultation, opening up a cooperation and communication channel among all system participants. And, as it was the case with the prior trademark guidelines consultation, it is expected that on this occasion this process will benefit from the participation of individual users, professional associations, and the titleholders of industrial property rights.

The draft of this document, with 215 pages, brings together and makes known, for the first time, INAPI´s criteria and interpretations on the formal, technical and substantial aspects of patent registration procedures. Thus, among many other matters, the consultation document covers applicable law, the norms on administrative and litigious proceedings and the criteria applied to the review of patent applications´ form and substance, unity of invention, and the scope of exclusions.

The immediate objective, once the process is completed and the final text is published, is to open up a bridge leading to practical effects for technical criteria and regulatory norms, constituting a concrete guideline to be followed by users and INAPI examiners. And, although these guidelines do not have the mandatory nature of laws and regulations, they will undoubtedly contribute to raise service quality standards and, above all, to provide greater legal certainty. This goal is even more valuable considering the future responsibilities of INAPI when it begins operating as an international ISA/IPEA office in the year 2014. In this context, future titleholders of international patent applications may recognize in INAPI an agency that provides incentives, with clear and public parameters, the processing of patent applications in reasonably predictable terms.

In agreement with other similar documents used by international bureaus involved in patent application review, these guidelines will reflect INAPI?s current practices and criteria, which will always be open to their continuous improvement, as it has been recognized by INAPI's own authorities.