Registration Procedure
A request for an expedited examination can be filed, when there is objective evidence of attempts of counterfeiting or non-bona fide commercial behavior of a competitor.
Any correspondence with the Office, excluding patent specifications and claims, has to be done in Hebrew.
The standard time limits for response to a communication from the patent office is 4 months. Extensions of time are obtainable for a relatively modest monthly fee, upon a retroactive request. In the absence of response to official communication, the application is treated as abandoned. Before abandonment the patent office issues a specific notice indicating that the application is about to become abandoned. There is no specific time limit when the notice indicating the forthcoming abandonment of application is issued but the notice is rather issued in accordance with the administrative workflow within the office and usually within 8-9 months from the official due date for response. There is a 1-month time period from the date of the notice indicating the forthcoming abandonment to communicate with the office and to furnish the response. Upon abandonment of an application the office issues a notice of abandonment.
Upon abandonment of an application due to non-compliance with an official time limit and within 12 months from the corresponding notice of abandonment, the applicant can request a restoration of rights for a relatively modest fee and to proceed with the examination. Petitions for restoration of rights are usually automatically granted regardless of the reason of non-compliance.
Sixteen months after priority date the application is published, including the specification and claims and all the documents in the file wrapper become publicly available (article 26 of the patent law).
To launch a pre-grant opposition, an opponent, within 3 months from the publication under article 26, is to submit a letter of intention to oppose and within 1 month from submitting the letter to furnish complete arguments of the opposition and optionally to provide evidence. During the pre-grant opposition procedures, the application is not enforceable. Pre-grant opposition procedures can take years to complete. Patent Registrar decisions in oppositions as well as is in any other matters are appealable before the Israeli district court.
The official fee for filing an Israeli patent application or Israeli national phase patent application is relatively modest, namely ~500$. There is no official fee for correspondence with the office and responses to examination reports. Allowance and publication under article 26 of the Patent Law is about 300$.
Professional charges of patent attorneys greatly vary between different firms and individuals. Professional charges also greatly vary depending on the subject matter and the technology.
The granting procedure can take years. Applications typically wait to be examined for 2 years or more, unless expedited examination was approved. The time an application waits for examination varies upon the workload of the office and differs between different technology units. Upon commencement of the examination, it is usually completed within 1 to 1.5 years, depending on the number of correspondence cycles between the applicant and the examiner. If a pre-grant opposition is filed after allowance, the opposition procedure may postpone the grant for an indefinite time period.
Ownership and Inventorship Rights:
Each individual that has contributed to at least one claim is considered an inventor. The owner of all the commercial rights in a patent/application, including the right of claiming priority, is presumed to be the applicant and not the inventor/s. The inventor/s in Israel are entitled to moral rights, which are legally non-transferable, non-assignable and cannot be given up or waived.
Provided that there are joint applicants, each of them is presumed to be an owner of an equal share in the title and interest of a patent; unless otherwise agreed in writing. Each joint owner is entitled to use and practice a patented invention, without consent of other owners. Each of the joint owners can convey/assign his share of rights in the application/patent on behalf of whomever, without consent of other owners. To grant an exclusive/sole license, the consent of all owners is required. In joint ventures/collaborations, typically, each party is considered to be a joint applicant, unless otherwise agreed in writing. It is advised to secure in writing the respective rights/shares of parties in joint ventures/collaborations prior to or with the commencement thereof.
There is no discrimination between different types of applicants and SME, large corporations, universities, research centers as well as individual inventors alike are granted with the same type and scope of rights and provided with the same kind of treatment by the office, except of a reduced fees applicable to "small entities" and individuals, which have opted to file their priority application in Israel.
Employees of governmental organizations and army personnel are obliged to notify an IP officer regarding their intention to apply for a patent. Employees and contractors involved in development and research are obliged to notify the employer of their intention to apply for a patent and convey/assign the rights in the service invention on behalf of the employer; the provisions in the Patent Law setting forth the obligations of notification and conveyance/assignment of rights in a service invention are dispositive and can stipulated, conditioned or waived, upon prior agreement in writing.
The priority applications on invention pertaining to weaponry/ordnance and atomic energy have to be filed in Israel, provided that at least one of the applicants is Israeli. Alternatively, a request for an exempting from filing the priority application in Israel can be submitted to the officer of the ministry of defense.
