(1) Prepare Dutch patent application documents: application form and patent documents.
The application form can be downloaded from the website of the Patent Office, but it must be filled in Dutch.
Patent documents must describe the contents of the patent in Dutch or English. The description must use legal terms and be as accurate as possible, and the format must meet the legal requirements. The Dutch Patent Office suggests that patent lawyers should be hired when applying for complex patents. Lawyers can help draft patent documents and reduce the possibility of patent being questioned.
(2) Submit the Dutch patent application documents and pay the patent application fee.
There are several ways to submit a document:
1. Submit by mail.
2. During the office hours of the Patent Office, the applicant or patent lawyer comes to submit.
3. Submit by fax.
4. Apply online through the Epoline system of the European Patent Office.
If the information in the Dutch patent application documents is incomplete, the Patent Office will provide the applicant with a list of supplementary information, and the applicant shall complete the list of supplementary information within 3 months, otherwise the patent will be invalid.
(3) Apply to the Patent Office for novelty examination within 13 months after submitting the Dutch patent application.
The patent application form includes an application for novelty examination, or a separate application for examination is filed after the Dutch patent application is submitted. Novelty examination can choose Dutch examination or international examination. The former is completed by the Dutch Patent Office and the latter by the European Patent Office.
(4) Receiving the examination report about 9 months after submitting the application for novelty examination.
The review report consists of two parts, one part is the document number of the patent document and the magazine article, and the other part is the written opinion issued by the Patent Office, explaining the influence of the first part of the document on patent novelty.
(5) The applicant can modify the wording of the Dutch patent application documents according to the examination report within 2 months after receiving the examination report.
(6) The term of validity of a patent is usually 20 years, and the patent maintenance fee is paid every year from the fourth year after it takes effect, and then increases year by year.