The Israel PTO announced today that applicants whose applications pertain to the diagnosis, treatment, prevention or other means of defeating the corona virus may have their applications examined out of turn. All that is necessary is a letter explaining how the invention described in the application pertains to the diagnosis, treatment, prevention or defeat of the corona virus. No fee is required.
The full announcement (in Hebrew) can be found here. Commissioner’s circular no. 034/2017, referred to in the announcement, can be found here.
In view of the fact that Israel has Patent Prosecution Highway agreements with several jurisdictions, including the United States, obtaining a quick allowance in Israel may be a way for applicants to speed up the prosecution of their corona virus-related patent applications in other jurisdictions.
Alternatively, if applicants are looking for a relatively inexpensive way of getting feedback on their applications at an early stage of the patenting process, filing in Israel (after obtaining a foreign filing license from the local PTO, if necessary) may facilitate such, so that applicants can revise and improve their applications before the end of the priority year.
Although the ILPTO has not announced a resumption of regular work, this announcement may portend such.