In a world of increasing pressure on the patent offices, it takes a very long time to have a patent granted. In Israel, the normal duration for a patent application to reach a first office action can normally range from 2 years to 5 years. The examination process itself will normally take another few months, at least. 

That is a lot, and in many cases an applicant may wish to accelerate his application. It should be strictly said that acceleration in Israel should be devided to two seperate issues: Waiving the waiting period and accelerating the examination itself.

Waiving the waiting period 

According to common practice, an Israeli application will be promoted to the beginning of the line subject to the following conditions:

A. The applicant knows or has a reason to believe that an infringment of the patent (should it be accepted) accurs or may occur. In this respect, a suspision or romours may be enough to establish that ground.

B. The applicant files an application together with an affidavit supporting the facts basing the suspicion, and pays the fee for a request for acceleration (around 180 USD currently).

Accelerating the examination itself

Once an application reaches examination, the Israeli law and commissioner rules allow a variety of reasons to waive examination. An applicant can request that examination will be waived in the one of the following cases:

A. A corresponding application was granted in one of the following countries: Austria, United States, Germany, Denmark, UK, The Russian Federation, Japan, The European Patent Office, Norway, Canada, Sweden. (according to the Israeli law)

B. A corresponding application was allowed in one of these countries. (according to the commissioner rules).

C. A favourable PCT search report or examination report was issued.

Unlike few other countries that allow waiver on examination, the granted Israeli patent based on an examination of another country or a PCT search report is a strong one, and can be used effectively for infringment suits. Therefore, using these clauses is very popular.