What is the oral hearing in the patent reexamination procedure?

According to the patent examination guidelines, the collegial panel may conduct the examination by written trial, oral trial or a combination of written trial and oral trial. In practice, patent re-examination cases are usually mainly written examination, and oral hearing is rare, but the re-examination requester can consider putting forward oral hearing according to his own needs.

1. Presentation of oral hearing request

The request for oral hearing shall be made in writing. As for the specific written form, the Patent Reexamination Board has no special form. The applicant may make a request for oral hearing in the statement of opinions in response to the notice of review, or use an independent document.

2. Review the request for oral hearing

The situations in which the applicant for reexamination can put forward an oral hearing only include: First, it is necessary to explain the facts or reasons to the collegial panel immediately, and the facts mainly include the explanation of the technical content, and the reasons for the statement mainly include the opinions on relevant laws and regulations in view of the patented technology; The second is the need for physical demonstration. In practice, in line with the above two situations, oral hearing may not be allowed. Whether or not to allow oral hearing shall be decided by the collegial panel according to the specific circumstances of the case.

3. The notice of oral hearing and the legal effect of whether or not to participate.

If an oral hearing is confirmed, the collegial panel will issue an oral hearing notice to the applicant. Generally speaking, the date of oral hearing determined by the collegiate bench should be at least 45 days from the date of publication (in the case that the patent application does not conform to the relevant provisions of the Patent Law and its detailed rules for implementation) or 37 days (in the case that the patent application is not informed of defects). The applicant for review has the right to choose whether to participate in the oral hearing. Those who choose to participate in the oral hearing shall submit a receipt to the Patent Reexamination Board for confirmation within 7 days from the date of receiving the notice of oral hearing, or directly participate in the oral hearing on the day of oral hearing. Otherwise, he will be regarded as not attending the oral hearing. If you choose not to participate in the oral hearing, the applicant for re-examination shall submit his defense opinions within the prescribed time limit, otherwise the request for re-examination shall be regarded as withdrawn.