Ex parte hearings

This is the name given to hearings held between a single party (either private individuals or firms) and the Office.

An ex parte hearing is a way of taking things forward with your patent application or granted patent. It gives you the chance to explain your case in person to one of our senior officers known as a "hearing officer". The hearing officer is trained to be independent and to look at all sides of the arguments. They will then make the final decision about your case.

Although you can represent yourself at a hearing, we advise you to contact a patent attorney or solicitor. To find a solicitor in your area, you should check your local phone book. To find a patent attorney, contact the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys.

Requesting a hearing

Most hearings are arranged following rounds of correspondence with us. If a disagreement has not been settled through the correspondence, you can request a hearing by simply putting your request in writing and sending it to us. All correspondence from yourself, the Office and any third parties will be open to public inspection, including on our website, once your application is published. We do not charge for hearings

Alternatively, if we think it appropriate, we may offer you a hearing.

Once we know that a hearing is required, we will usually contact you by telephone to make convenient arrangements.

Hearings are usually held at our London or Newport Offices, but we can hold them elsewhere if circumstances justify it. We can also hold them through a video conference link, or telephone.

Once everything has been arranged, we will write to you to confirm the details so that you can prepare for the hearing. If your application has been published, the hearing date will be added to our hearings diary.

If you are satisfied that your arguments have already been put forward in sufficient detail during previous rounds of correspondence, you may decide that it is not necessary to present your arguments in person. If you decide not to attend in person, the hearing officer will base his decision upon the arguments that are on file.

After the hearing

After the hearing, the hearing officer will issue a formal decision. The decision may be given orally at the end of the hearing but usually it is issued later in the form of a written decision. We published the results of past decisions (professional section) on our website.

The decision is binding but if you disagree with it and wish to pursue the matter further you can appeal to the courts.