In March 2024, the Swiss Parliament approved partial amendments to the Patents Act. To ensure the smooth implementation of the revised act, corresponding implementing provisions in the Patents Ordinance need to be adjusted accordingly. Taking this opportunity, the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI) intends to comprehensively modernize the current ordinance, which has been in force for 46 years. The draft of the revised ordinance is expected to enter the public consultation phase at the beginning of April 2025 and to last some three months.
The amendments to the Patents Act approved by the parliament establish an innovative framework for the Swiss patent system. As a supporting regulation, the draft of the revised Patents Ordinance not only implements institutional innovations at the legal level but also refines operational norms for the new patent examination procedure. Key highlights include:
1. Introducing an optional substantive examination mechanism, allowing applicants to choose whether to initiate a comprehensive technical examination.
2. Establishing a compulsory search system, requiring a search report on the state of the art for each patent application.
3. Opening a channel for submitting technical documents in English and allowing patent application documents to be published in English.
It is noteworthy that since the current Patents Ordinance was implemented in 1978, most of its provisions are still based on legislative concepts from the non-digital era, making it difficult to meet the practical needs of modern patent systems for electronic document management, digital information storage, and cross-border collaborative examination. The revision focuses on overcoming obstacles to digital development, mainly reflected in:
- Building an electronic communication platform with IPI and optimizing the full-cycle management system for electronic data.
- Reserving interfaces for future digital upgrades to lay the foundation for the construction of an intelligent examination system.
- Aligning provisions with the European Patent Convention and the Trade Mark Protection Ordinance to enhance the convenience of cross-border applications.
Through systematic institutional optimization, this revision will significantly simplify the patent application process. Applicants can effectively shorten the patent application cycle by selecting optimized examination pathways and utilizing electronic tools in the future. The IPI states that this reform will help Switzerland maintain its competitiveness in the global patent system and provide more efficient intellectual property protection services for innovation entities.
Information source: https://www.ige.ch/en/services/newsroom/news/news-details/the-fully-revised-patents-ordinance-will-be-submitted-for-consultation-in-april
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