Written opinion
At the request of the applicant HIPO shall draw up a search report supplemented with a written opinion.
The written opinion is a reasoned preliminary statement whether the invention, taking into account the documents and the information cited in the search report, appears to meet the requirements of novelty, inventive step and industrial application.
The request for a search report supplemented with a written opinion shall be filed within ten months from the accorded filing date.
A fee shall be paid for a search report supplemented with a written opinion (point 2 of the Schedule of Fees), however, in this case the examination fee is subject to a 31% reduction (point 3 of the Schedule of Fees). Finally, if the applicant makes an international application based on the above national application, and the Visegrad Patent Institute is appointed as the International Searching Authority, 40% of the search fee may be refunded. This means that – depending on the type of the written opinion – two to eight times of the fee of the written opinion could be spared during the national and international procedures due to the above fee reductions.
The following three types of search reports supplemented with a written opinion are available (refer to the table below for a visual comparison):
I. Search report supplemented with a written opinion based on a Hungarian application
At the request of the applicant HIPO shall draw up the search report supplemented with a written opinion on the basis of the (Hungarian) description, claims and drawings filed until the last day of the fourth month from the filing date of such request and shall transmit it to the applicant within six months from the filing date of the request.
II. Search report supplemented with a written opinion based on a Hungarian application in an accelerated procedure
At the request of the applicant HIPO shall draw up the search report supplemented with a written opinion in an accelerated procedure, if the following conditions are met:
- the patent application meets the requirements for according the date of filing,
- the filing fee and the search fee have been paid,
- the description with the claims, the abstract and the drawings have been filed in the Hungarian language, and
- at least one claim is suitable for a proper novelty search.
The request for an accelerated procedure may only be filed together with the initial request for the search report supplemented with a written opinion; in such a case the double of the fee for the request for a search report supplemented with a written opinion (according to point I) shall be paid.
HIPO shall draw up the search report supplemented with a written opinion on the basis of the description, claims and drawings filed until the date of filing of the request and shall send it to the applicant within two months from the date of filing of the request.
III. Search report supplemented with a written opinion based on an English application
At the request of the applicant HIPO shall draw up the search report supplemented with a written opinion on the basis of an English language application, if the following conditions are met:
- the patent application meets the requirements for according a date of filing,
- the filing fee and the search fee have been paid, and
- at least one claim is suitable for a proper novelty search.
In such a case the quadruple of the fee for the request for a search report supplemented with a written opinion (according to point I) shall be paid.
HIPO shall draw up the search report supplemented with a written opinion on the basis of the description, claims and drawings filed until the date of filing of the request and shall transmit it to the applicant as soon as possible, but no later than six months from the date of filing of the request. In order to assist applicants, HIPO – beside the Hungarian version – also sends an English translation of the written opinion to the applicant.
Note: If a request for a search report supplemented with a written opinion is filed with respect to an English application, it is mandatorily regarded as a request for a search report according to point III, and it is therefore not possible to request an accelerated procedure in these cases.
If the applicant amends the patent application after HIPO has transmitted the search report supplemented with a written opinion, a new request for a search report supplemented with a written opinion may be filed within ten months from the accorded filing date, in any of the above three procedures.
Neither the request for a search report supplemented with a written opinion based on an application in Hungarian, nor the request for the accelerated procedure (based on an application in the Hungarian language) shall be deemed to have been filed until the prescribed fees are paid. In the case of a request for a search report supplemented with a written opinion based on an application in English, if the applicant fails to pay the prescribed fee (entirely or partially), the request for a search report supplemented with a written opinion will be rejected.
The search report supplemented with a written opinion made in an early phase of the patent granting procedure helps the applicant develop a well-founded strategy in the priority year, in respect of foreign patenting.
It should be pointed out that the findings of the search report supplemented with a written opinion are not binding in respect of the patentability of the application, since the relevant documents and data may change during the substantive examination, inter alia because of the early timing of the novelty search.
