The Israel PTO will accept patent applications filed in Hebrew, Arabic or English (as discussed in an earlier post), but I’ve never filed a patent application in Hebrew. Nor, as far as I know, has any local practitioner with whom I’ve ever worked or come into contact. Unless you’re only interested in protection in Israel, there’s not really much point: as soon as you go to file elsewhere, you’re going to have to translate to a more commonly-used language. To the extent I’ve encountered Hebrew-language patent applications, they’ve been filed by local pro se inventors.
Which brings up today’s trivia question: if for some inexplicable reason, you have an insatiable desire to file a Hebew-language PCT application, where can you file?
If you’re not sure, here’s a hint: it’s not in Jerusalem. (Don’t ask me why not, I’m still looking into that one.) Not the Vatican either, where you might expect someone to speak Hebrew.
Still not sure? The answer is at that bastion of Hebrew, the PCT International Bureau, in Geneva. (Switzerland, not New York.) It's good to know someone out there is defending the use of Hebrew. Unfortunately, since Hebrew isn’t a language used by any of the PCT International Search Authorities, you’ll still need to file a translation so the ISA can do its job.
My question is, if Israel eventually becomes an ISA itself, as is the plan, will the IL-ISA search Hebrew-language applications? Or Arabic ones? Or will Israelis need to file English translations to have their PCT applications searched at their own ISA? It may make business sense to allow searching of Arabic-language applications, thereby giving the only other potential Arabic-language ISA, the patent office in Egypt (that well-known IP powerhouse), a run for its money. Especially since Arabic, unlike Hebrew, is one of the languages in which PCT applications are published. That means that once there’s an Arabic-language ISA, in principle translations of Arabic-language applications won’t need to be prepared until national phase time.
In contrast, since Hebrew isn’t a PCT publication language, even if the IL-ISA searches Hebrew applications, a translation will still need to be filed to enable publication. And given the miniscule number of Hebrew-language applications filed, there’s probably no need to enable Hebrew-language searches. Sorry, Ben-Yehuda.
