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About Nordic Patent Institute

Nordic Patent Institute is an Intergovernmental Organisation established by the governments of Denmark, Iceland and Norway. Nordic Patent Institute was established with the purpose of maintaining and enhancing the patent competencies and services of the national patent offices in the Institute's member states.

The operation of the Institute is based on cooperation between the national patent offices of the three contracting states and exploitation of the existing resources and competencies of the national offices.


Last update 15 February 2012
  • Did you know that when carrying out their PCT searches, our examiners always search Nordic (Norwegian, Danish, Swedish and Finnish) material?
  • Did you know that in validity searches performed by Nordic Patent Institute, references of particular relevance or obviousness-type references were found in about 70 % of the tasks given to us?
  • Did you know that we have started PCT-PPH pilot projects with USPTO and JPO allowing applicants who have chosen Nordic Patent Institute to request a fast-track examination at the USPTO and JPO?
  • Did you know that in certain cases Nordic Patent Institute will refund up to 50 % of the PCT search fee paid by the applicant, if the results from an earlier search can be used to reduce the extent of the ISA search?
  • Did you know that all our examiners are educated at an MSc level or higher, that they have extensive patent examiner training and can search in minimum English, French, German, and the Scandinavian languages?
  • Did you know that when carrying out the prior art searches our examiners have access to more than 850 databases?
  • Did you know that the combined languages skills of our examiners bring our searching fluency to over 30 languages?
  • Did you know that all the prior art searches done by Nordic Patent Institute are performed by the highly qualified and experienced PCT examiners at the Danish and Norwegian Patent Offices?
  • Did you know that our examiners spend about 60 % of their time examining patent applications and 40 % of their time providing prior art searches and assessments to businesses and IP law firms?
  • Did you know that when it comes to the timeliness of ISAs in transmitting ISRs, Nordic Patent Institute has from the beginning been among the best ISAs?
  • Did you know that Swedish nationals and residents can use Nordic Patent Institute as an ISA and/or IPEA when filing a PCT application?