Indonesia: Substantive Examination of Patent Application

The Director General of the Indonesian Patent Office has issued an Official Circular to applicants of Indonesian patent applications and the Applicant's legal proxy in regards to substantive examination of patent application.

Response to Substantive Examination Report

The Circular states an applicant has to respond within three months from the date of the letter of notification to the first substantive examination report issued by the Indonesian Patent Office.

If no response is received within the above mandatory deadline, the Indonesian Patent Office will issue a final reminder, and the deadline to respond will be extended to two months from the date of the final reminder.

Currently, if any examination reports have not previously been responded to in due time the Applicant will have until 30 April 2011 to respond.

If the Applicant does not respond within the two months set by the reminder, or before 30 April 2011 for cases in which the response is already overdue, the application will be rejected and considered withdrawn. There is no opportunity to appeal this decision.

This Circular was issued in an attempt to clear the back log at the Patent Office and expedite examination of other pending cases. Nevertheless, it is also our understanding that even if a first/second examination report has been issued, and if the Applicant is unable to respond within the normal time limit, a formal request for an extension of time to respond is still available to the Applicant. In other words, the Applicant needs to provide an indication that they are still interested in pursuing the application.

For the avoidance of doubt, please be advised that this Circular does not affect the deadline to request for substantive examination.

Contact Us

For more information on the above, please contact

Kristian Robinson
krobinson@ecsf-asia.com