Adversarial Patent Examination: An Overview of the Operation of the Opposition Mechanism in Colombian Patent Applications

In the management of intellectual property rights, the opposition mechanism of patent applications is an important legal tool that provides third parties with the opportunity to participate in the patent examination process. According to Colombian Decision No. 486, the Colombian Patent Office provides a pre-grant opposition system. Any interested third party may file an opposition request within 60 days after the publication of the patent application, and this period can be extended by 60 days upon request. The Patent Office will consider the opposition within the examination framework according to its importance, and will not set up a separate opposition procedure to delay the examination of the application, but will only decide whether to accept or reject the opponent's reasons in the case resolution.

The person filing the opposition may also file a request for reexamination of the grant decision. Filing a request for reexamination will automatically suspend the validity of the granted patent until the result of the reexamination is released.

In theory, the patent owner will be notified of the opposition petitioner's request for reexamination and allowed to file a response to the opposition. However, unless the opposition petitioner accompanies the request for reexamination with new evidence, such as new prior art documents, the Colombian Patent Office states that it is not obliged to notify the patent owner or provide a deadline for filing a response. If new evidence emerges, the Colombian Patent Office will usually provide a five-day deadline to respond to the new evidence cited by the opponent.

In addition, third parties may submit third-party public comments to the Colombian Patent Office at any time, even after the opposition period has expired. However, unlike opposition requests, the Colombian Patent Office is not obliged to consider such information, but will recognize the submitted documents and evaluate the reported prior art during the examination process.

This mechanism highlights the diversified interactive model in the patent application process and encourages third parties to participate based on public interests to ensure the rationality and innovation of patents. This is not only a contest between technology and law, but also a refinement of innovation protection. Due to the existence of the opposition mechanism, applicants need to have a more complete patent application strategy to deal with possible confrontation situations. Therefore, in the patent application process, applicants should plan ahead, fully understand the potential challenges and confrontation platforms in the industry, and form a flexible intellectual property management strategy to ensure competitive advantages in the patent grant stage and even throughout the entire life cycle. We encourage applicants to enhance the protection of their innovative achievements through professional consultation and comprehensive patent analysis.