Third-party observation refers to a system that any person other than the applicant for a patent invention who helps the examiners of the patent office to grant and the public to obtain more information by providing reference documents related to the patent application before the patent application is granted. Most of the prior arts related to the patent application are used for reference during the review process, so as to achieve the purpose of public review and improve the quality of patents. Third-party observation provide the possibility to challenge patentability before patent grant.
For enterprises, it is a simple, effective and very low-cost way to prevent competitors from obtaining grant by tracking the status of competitors' patent applications and submitting third-party public opinions to the patent.
There are only a few countries in the world that have set up very little official fees for third-party observation, and the public does not need to prepare detailed reasons for invalidation, and most countries can submit comments anonymously without providing any personal information. By sending it to the Intellectual Property Office, the submission of the third-party observation can effectively avoid direct conflicts with competitors.