Chile trains for international patent search and examination

A well-trained examiner can hunt down even the most elusive piece of prior art

IP Tango has received the following release from Chile's INAPI:

"Due to the implementation process which is being conducted by INAPI in order to become an operative International Searching Authority and an International Preliminary Examination Authority (ISA/IPEA) under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), two experts of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) are carrying out a training course for INAPI patent examiners, with the aim of preparing the Chilean examiners with both technical and examination issues regarding the submission of the International Searching Reports, Written Opinions and the International Preliminary Examination Reports, as established in the PCT, Regulations and Administrative Instructions.

This activity is taking place both in Plaza San Francisco Hotel of Santiago and INAPI premises and the training is given by Mr Michael Neas, Supervisor, and Mr Shane Thomas, Special Programs Examiner. Both of them are part of the USPTO Office of PCT Legal Administration.

Maximiliano Santa Cruz, National Director of INAPI, inaugurated this training course and declared that "this training given by the USPTO, one of the leading patent offices worldwide, reflects the professionalism with which INAPI has taken its implementation process as an ISA/IPEA and how important it is for us the training of our patent examiners in order to deal with this immense challenge which puts INAPI as one of the 18 offices in the world which conduct Search Reports and Preliminary Examination under the PCT system.”

Esteban Figueroa, Deputy Director of the Patent Division said that "this course is part of many activities that we have planned as Institution in order to train our patent examiners to meet PC´s criteria and in consequence, to make searching reports and preliminary examination reports of the highest quality, such as the system requires".

Finally, the Head of the Patent Examination Department, Ernesto Manríquez, added that " the 4th of October 2012, INAPI was appointed as ISA/IPEA in the General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and it is expected that it will start functioning as such in October 2014, therefore these activities show that, in spite of having more than a year to become an operative ISA/IPEA, we have already been working in its implementation for a long time"".

This blogger feels that these training courses are a bit of a mixed blessing.  On the positive side, they improve the level of knowledge, understanding and performance of those who are trained; on the negative side, they can raise expectations on the part of users of the patent system that everything will suddenly work better ...