Retroactive amendments

01-04-2011

Michael Factor

The Israel Patent Law is anomalous in that pending applications are not published automatically 18 months after priority.

An abstract is only published after the application is allowed, and then the patent and the prosecution file become available for inspection. However, basic details of new patent filings, including the name of the applicant, title, priority and filing dates must be published in the Official Israel Patent Office Gazette (Reshumot in Hebrew) shortly after filing.

A proposed amendment to have automatic publication 18 months from priority, as occurs at many other patent offices, had a first reading some years ago, but so far, it has not entered the law.

Back in 2007, due to delays in publishing the printed gazette, the cost and general inconvenience, Dr. Meir Noam, then commissioner of patents, decided to make the information available on the Internet instead of in the printed gazette.


Israel Patent Law, patent filing

WIPR