Apply for substantive examination
A substantive examination is a full and detailed examination of your patent application. If you want your patent application to proceed, you must request a substantive examination of your patent application by filing a form 10 and fee of GBP £100. (GBP £80 if filed using our e-filing/web-filing service).
Send us your request
You should file a form 10 within 6 months of the date that we publish your application so that your application can proceed. You may file online or send your filled in form 10 and fee to:
Intellectual Property OfficeConcept House
Cardiff Road
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8QQ
United Kingdom
What happens next?
When we receive your form and fee, we will carry out a full and detailed examination of your patent application to find out whether:
- it claims an invention that we can grant a patent for
- it
is new and not obvious
- the description
is full and clear enough for the invention to be made or carried
out by someone with a good knowledge of the technical area that the application is about, and
- the claims are clear and agree with the description of the application.
We will let you know if we find any problems with your application, and give you a chance to have your say about any problems raised.
After you have requested substantive examination, you can find out when your first examination report is likely to be issued.