Examination of Application
The competent officer will examine the application for invention patent whether it complies with the Act and will examine whether the invention fulfills the qualifications of patentability. In practice, the examiner must abide by the rules specified in the Ministerial Regulation No.3 (B.E. 2523). The Act then provides the procedures after the result of the examination is reported to the Director-General. The procedures include the publication of the examination, the opposition, the dismissal of the application, the appeal against the Registrar’s order.
As for the application for petty patent, the examiner will examine whether the application complies with the relevant provisions of the Act and the Ministerial Regulation and also whether the invention is not a non-patentable subject matter. The practices after the examiner reports the result of the examination to the Director General are the same as the case of invention patent above because the same provisions apply mutatis mutandis.
Examination of Invention
The examination of invention is necessary in the case of invention patent and petty patent.
When the application for invention patent is published. the applicant must lodge a request for another examination whether the invention fulfills the qualification of patent ability, namely, novelty, Inventive step and industrial applicability within five years as from the publication. Should the process is involved with an opposition and an appeal, the applicant must lodge the request within one year after the ruling of the Patent Committee becomes final. The failure to file the request within the abovementioned duration shall be deemed the abandonment of the application.
The examiner shall report the examination of the invention to the Director-General who will order the registration or the dismissal of the application as the case may be. In the latter case, the applicant may appeal to the Patent Committee within sixty days otherwise the Director-General’s order shall be deemed final.
Unlike the case of an invention patent the examiner can initiate the examination of the design without a request from the applicant. After the examination outcome, the procedures provided for the invention patent also apply to the design patent.
The invention of a petty patent is treated differently. It dose not need any examination of the invention. If the Director-General finds it legally proper; a patent should be granted, the authority shall order the registration of the invention and the grant of a petty patent with the condition that the relevant fees shall be paid within the time specified by the law. However, after the grant of the patent, any interested person is entitled to request the examination of the invention within one year after the