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Guidelines for Examination in the EPO

Guidelines for Examination - Table of Contents  
PART B GUIDELINES FOR SEARCH PART A PART C  
CHAPTER IV SEARCH PROCEDURE AND STRATEGY CHAPTER III CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SEARCH CHAPTER V PRECLASSIFICATION (ROUTING) AND OFFICIAL CLASSIFICATION OF EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATIONS  
2. Search strategy 1. Procedure prior to searching 3. Procedure after searching  
2.4 Reformulation of the subject of the search 2.3 Carrying out the search; types of documents 2.5 Closest prior art and its effects on the search  

2.4

Reformulation of the subject of the search

 

The examiner should continuously evaluate the results of his search, and if necessary reformulate the subject of the search accordingly. For example, the selection of the classification units to be searched or the order of searching them may also require alteration during the search as a consequence of intermediate results obtained. The examiner should also use his judgement, taking into account results obtained, in deciding at any time during the systematic search whether he should approach the search documentation in some different manner, e.g. by consulting:

 

(i)

documents cited in relevant documents produced by the search, for example cited in the description or search report of a patent document; or

 

(ii)

documents citing a relevant document produced by the search,

 

or whether he should turn to documentation outside that which is available to the Search Divisions in-house (see Chapter IX). When searching external document collections for material in relation to unpublished subject-matter using other than secure connections, like the Internet, the examiner should be extremely careful when formulating search strategies so as not to unwittingly reveal confidential material - i.e. any part of the unpublished patent application.

 


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