Switzerland: Pending Patent Applications Can Stay Under the Old Law if Requested by 30 September
The Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI) has confirmed that the partially revised Patents Act enters into force on 1 January 2027. From that date the IPI will carry out a fee-based prior-art search for every national patent application and issue a search report; applicants may also request a full substantive examination covering novelty and inventive step. The search fee is 500 Swiss francs and the full examination costs a further 300 Swiss francs; the number of claims covered by the filing fee rises from 10 to 15, and technical documents may be filed and published in...