By Christopher P. Singer --
Last week the United States and European Patent Offices
announced that the agencies will begin to exchange priority documents in an
electronic format. This program will
impact applicants that have filed an application with the U.S. or European
Patent Offices (a "priority document"), and subsequently wish to file a
corresponding application in Europe or the U.S. within 12 months of the first
filed application. This document
exchange program will be free to applicants. Currently, the offices charge administrative fees for providing priority
documents to the other office. While
this savings may be insignificant relative to the total cost of application
filing fees, it is unarguably better than a sharp stick in the eye.
The Offices will begin testing the system in December and
intend to be in full-scale operation in January 2007. More details regarding this announcement can
be found at this link.
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