Eurasian Patent Office - International Searching Authority

The Eurasian Patent Office (EAPO) was granted the status of an International Searching Authority (ISA) at a session of the Assemblies of the Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) is an international agreement in the field of intellectual property, to which 156 countries are now parties. The ISA conducts patent searches on a PCT application and issues expert opinions on patentability of inventions. Only 24 IP offices in the world have such a status.

In fact, this means that with the help of EAPO the applicant and the future patent holder - inventor, scientist, researcher, corporation or organization - will be able (at the very beginning of the procedure for obtaining patent protection abroad) to assess their opportunities to obtain a patent in any country party to PCT. And if any discrepancies are identified, the applicant will have the opportunity to amend the application, adjust the claims at the next stages of consideration in order to increase their chances of obtaining a patent. If the search results are unfavourable, the applicant may refuse to obtain a patent and thus reduce his or her financial costs, e.g. for fees, translation of documents or patent attorneys' fees in another country.

The cost of the international patent search for a Russian language application amounts to 9000 Russian Rubles, for an English language application - 40000 Russian Rubles. Fees for the international search and other activities performed by EAPO in connection with the ISA functions are published on the web-site of the Eurasian Patent Organization.

It is important to note that the ISA status is granted only to the offices which meet high quality standards regarding patent search and patent examination. It is taken into account whether an office has access to search databases containing extensive collections of patent and scientific data from all over the world; offices should have highly qualified staff capable of performing patent search and examination. EAPO and the quality of the office's examiners meets all the stringent, internationally accepted requirements.

Source: EAPO