The Federal Council adopted the partial revision of the Patents Act at its meeting on 16 November 2022. The Patents Act is to be adapted to international standards, and the Swiss patent system is to be made more attractive to SMEs and individual inventors, in particular. Parliament will now deliberate on the draft bill.

• Federal Council media release on the adoption of the dispatch

You can find full information on the next steps under Parliamentary deliberation.

The Federal Council acknowledges the results of the consultation (in German, in French, or in Italian) on the partial revision of the Patents Act at its meeting of 18 August 2021. Modernising the patent examination procedure was, in principle, welcomed in the consultation. The Federal Council now wants to take account of the criticism voiced in individual areas by modifying the contents of the draft bill. It has mandated the Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP) to draft a dispatch on the partial revision of the Patents Act with the following key points by the end of 2022:

• Forgo the introduction of a utility model
• Make the patent examination more flexible by providing an optional examination of all patentability requirements including novelty and inventive step
• Increase legal certainty through a compulsory patent search for all patent applications
• Abandon opposition proceedings and simultaneously expand the possibilities for appeal
• Appoint the Federal Patent Court (FPatC) as the appeal authority against IPI decisions instead of the Federal Administrative Court (FAC)

The IPI will now prepare such a draft including a dispatch for the attention of Parliament.