1. General procedure
Overview
1. General procedure
Under Chapter II, the reply to the WO‑ISA, WO-IPEA (Form 408) or telephone minutes with possible amendments will be examined.
The final result of this examination under Chapter II is the issuance of the IPER (see C‑VIII).
The examiner will first consider whether the objections raised in the WO‑ISA have been overcome by the submitted arguments and/or amendments. If this is the case, the IPER will be issued directly, provided that the top-up search does not yield any pertinent prior art (see C‑IV, 5.4). If objections have not been overcome or if pertinent prior art is found in the top-up search (see C‑IV, 5.3 and C-IV, 5.4), a further WO-IPEA or telephone minutes should be issued as set out in C‑IV, 2.2.
If a further WO-IPEA or telephone minutes setting a time limit for reply are issued, the examiner will examine any reply from the applicant and will then as a rule draft the IPER directly even if objections still occur, unless there is an outstanding request for a telephone consultation (see C‑IV, 2.2, and C‑VII, 1). An exception could be if it is clear that minor amendments could be suggested during e.g. a short telephone consultation which would result in a positive IPER, so that it would appear procedurally expedient to solve these problems in the Chapter II phase.
A second written opinion will be issued on condition that the applicant files in due time a substantive reply either to the WO‑ISA established by the EPO or to the first written opinion established by the EPO as IPEA. Thus, before issuing a "negative" IPER, the EPO as IPEA will, as a rule, issue a second written opinion, thereby providing the applicant with a further opportunity to submit amendments and/or arguments to overcome any objections raised therein. A request for a second written opinion need not be filed.