The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the
world's oldest patent office, established in 1790. It is no
wonder, then, that after more than two centuries of practice, it
has valuable guidelines in place for its examiners. These briefs
prove to be a great benefit to examiners and applicants alike, so
should this model be adopted in the Middle East, North Africa and
Pakistan (MENAP) region?
We will examine this question and many others regarding the
interaction of Intellectual Property (IP) procedures with local
legislation and case law.
Should office guidelines, decisions and case law be
published?
Nowadays, the USPTO's whole procedure is available to the public online. Many other
offices follow the trend of sharing their internal examination
rules, including the European Patent Office (EPO) and the European Union Intellectual
Property Office (EUIPO). This policy holds obvious benefits:
Clearly defined rules increase predictability, reduce
