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The search report is sent to the applicant and transmitted to the Examining Division. In both cases, the report must be accompanied by copies of all documents cited (see also B-IV, 3.3), except those documents appearing in the search report after the "&" symbol, which are not designated for copying and communication to the applicant (see B-X, 11.3).
These cited documents are used to assess the patentability of the claimed invention (see B-XI, 3) both in the search opinion (if applicable, see B-XI, 7) and in the examination procedure.
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