Is it necessary to carry out a search before filing?

EPO PRIOR ART SEARCH

A prior art search is anyway carried out during the filing procedure to register a patent by most national offices.

From July 1^st, 2008, also Italian patent applications are subject to a novelty search by the EPO, European Patent Office, which is then sent to the Italian Patent and Trademark Office, UIBM, and forwarded to the applicant within 9 months of filing, together with an opinion on the patentability of the invention.

This makes it advantageous to file an Italian application because at a low cost you get a search whose results may be useful to the applicant to understand whether the patent deserves to be extended abroad or in any case whether it is worth investing in.

Attention: a pre-disclosure of the subject matter of the patent before the application is filed is such as to result in the invalidity of the application.