Chapter IV – Examination of the WO‑ISA and replies
1. General procedure
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A revised version of this publication entered into force. |
Under Chapter II, the reply to the WO‑ISA, WO‑IPEA (Form 408) or telephone minutes with possible amendments will be examined.
The final result of this examination under Chapter II is the issuance of the IPER (see GL/PCT‑EPO C‑VIII).
The examiner will first consider whether the objections raised in the WO‑ISA have been overcome by the submitted arguments and/or amendments. If this is the case, the IPER will be issued directly, provided that the top-up search does not yield any pertinent prior art (see GL/PCT‑EPO C‑IV, 5.4). If objections have not been overcome or if pertinent prior art is found in the top-up search (see GL/PCT‑EPO C‑IV, 5.3 and GL/PCT‑EPO C‑IV, 5.4), a further WO‑IPEA or telephone minutes should be issued as set out in GL/PCT‑EPO C‑IV, 2.2.
If a further WO‑IPEA or telephone minutes setting a time limit for reply are issued, the examiner will examine any reply from the applicant and will then as a rule draft the IPER directly even if objections still occur, unless there is an outstanding request for a telephone consultation (see GL/PCT‑EPO C‑IV, 2.2, and C‑VII, 1). An exception could be if it is clear that minor amendments could be suggested during e.g. a short telephone consultation which would result in a positive IPER, so that it would appear procedurally expedient to solve these problems in the Chapter II phase.