Israel: Prosecuting An Israel Patent Application: SOME OF THE BASICS

a. Language. Patent applications may be filed in English, Hebrew or Arabic.

b. Conventions. Israel is a member of the Paris Convention and of the PCT. A Paris Convention application must be filed within 12 months of the earliest priority date, while a National Phase Entry of the PCT into Israel must be submitted within 30 months of the earliest priority date. Late entry is permissible in some circumstances, although this should not be relied upon. Unlike some other jurisdictions, the Patent Office will examine validity of a priority claim, whether the claims are fairly based on the disclosure of the priority document and whether the claimed priority document is, in fact, the earliest application.

c. Utility Models as basis for a Priority Claim.Israeli Patent Law does not include Utility models (wipo.int)as exist in various jurisdictions (China, Germany, Spain, for example). However, as Utility Models are specifically included in Article 4 of the Paris Convention, in practice it is possible to use a Utility Model as a basis for a claim to Paris Convention priority.

d. Obtaining a filing date and number. On receiving a new application or national phase entry, the Patent Office checks compliance with various formal and procedural requirements and allocates a filing date and application number. The application number will become the Israel Patent Number, if and when a patent is granted.

e. Excess pages Fee. A fee of approximately $ 75 (depending on the exchange rate at the time) is payable at the time of filing for each batch of 50 pages in excess of 100 pages. This includes all pages except for sequence listings. If the fee is not paid on filing, it will be requested by the Patent Office soon after. While a filing date will be given even if this fee has not been paid, failure to pay the required fee will eventually lead to the application lapsing.

f. File wrapper publication. Patent application files are published for online public inspection at Israel – Patents Search (justice.gov.il), with a list of such applications published periodically in the Patent Gazette. Note that almost all official correspondence with the Patent Office is in Hebrew and is therefore published in Hebrew.

The dates of publication are:

• For National applications (not the Israel national phase of a PCT) – 18 months after either the application date or the Convention Priority date – whichever is earlier.
• For National phase applications of a PCT application – 45 days after the date of national phase entry.

g. Preventing file wrapper publication. In the unlikely event that the applicant does not wish the application to be published, the only way to prevent publication is by abandoning the application within 7 days of issuance of a notice that the application is to be published.