I could write about the USPTO colossal electronic system screw-up this week…but that will wait for a later blog post. Today we’re going to discuss the ILPTO EFS, particularly its new interface for filing new applications.
As mentioned in a previous post, in September the Israel PTO announced, with much fanfare, that it was changing its interface for filing new patent applications, but that, as far as I could tell, the only significant difference from the old interface was that now it will populate the information for PCT national phase applications with data taken directly from WIPO.
After playing with the system more since then, I’ve found that my initial assessment was correct. And there are some clunky parts to the new interface: you have to log in, then indicate you want to file a new application, but then you’re directed to a page telling you to login again. Clicking on the appropriate button takes you to the next screen, but if you’re already logged in, why should you have to click the button again?
And once you get to that next screen, it’s not immediately clear where you need to click in order to file a new application. (Turns out it’s בקשה לפטנט in the top middle of the screen.)
I also found what seemed at first to be a bug: you can’t enter national phase before the PCT application has published, because the system doesn’t have data to draw from. It gives an error message: “unable to obtain data from WIPO”. Well, duh. What’s not immediately apparent – but was explained to me subsequently by a colleague – is that there’s a button saying “continue”, which allows you to manually enter the data. That button should say “click here to manually input the data”.
And as I noted in the previous post, the fact that you don’t get an acknowledgement of what was filed is unacceptable. You can see the names of the files that you ostensibly submitted, but there’s no way to verify that what is actually in the ILPTO’s system is what you submitted. Sorry, ILPTO, that doesn’t cut it.
There is one improvement on the way that they announced this week: they’re going to start pulling the application documents from WIPO, instead of requiring applicants to submit the specification, claims, drawings and sequence listings themselves. (Applicants will still have the option of filing their own documents.) This will save filers some time, but I’m not sure this complies with the ILPTO’s own rules about filing: the ILPTO ostensibly requires filers to submit searchable pdfs, but the pdf files obtained from WIPO are not searchable. (Actually, when they introduced the EFS in late 2015, the fact that they were asking for searchable pdfs but WIPO only provides non-searchable pdfs was a complaint that was raised, and I think this is a “requirement” that’s generally honored in the breach.) On the other hand, this may be the first time a government office anywhere in world voluntarily made things more difficult for itself in an effort to make things easier for the public to which it provides service.