Patent & Trademark Examination Workflow
Moraph software. This product is where examiners record the searches they run in their own tools, the references and marks they find, their relevance decisions and the office actions they draft from your templates. It builds a claim chart from the passages recorded against each claim element, compares cited marks by spelling, sound code and overlapping classes, and keeps the full search history. It doesn't search for prior art, rank results, translate or use AI; examiners decide what is relevant and make every determination.
Raise a ticket about Patent & Trademark Examination WorkflowTroubleshooting guide (sign in to read)Product documentation
Critical incident? Raise an S1 ticket and also call the support number in your organization’s service agreement, so the on-call team is engaged straight away. Check Moraph Status for incidents already under way.
What Moraph Support handles
- Problems signing in to Moraph Apps or opening the product workspace
- Drafting, templates, response due dates or reminders not working as described
- Work API errors, key problems and questions about scopes
- Questions about configuring record types, fields, stages and allowed moves
What goes elsewhere
- Decisions on patentability, registrability or relevance, which stay with examiners and your office's procedures
- Response periods and form paragraphs, which your office sets from its own rules
- Problems inside your examination case system or search tools, which go to your office's IT team or the vendor
Choosing a severity
| Severity | Examples for Patent & Trademark Examination Workflow |
|---|---|
| S1 Critical A production service is down or unusable, data may be at risk, or a security incident is under way, and there is no workaround. |
|
| S2 High A production service is badly degraded or an important function is failing, and the workaround is poor or temporary. |
|
| S3 Normal Something is not working as it should, but there is a reasonable workaround or the impact is limited. |
|
| S4 Low A question, a minor problem, a request for information or a change that can be planned. |
|
Response and resolution targets for each severity are the ones in your organization’s service agreement with Moraph.
Before you raise a ticket
- Check whether the problem affects one application or every application
- Sign out and back in, and try another browser
- Confirm with your administrator that your role in People and access is correct
- For Work API errors, check the key has not expired or been revoked under Work API keys
What to include in the ticket
- The record reference, such as APPL-7KQ2PX, not the applicant's details
- The application or serial number only if your office's policy allows it in a ticket
- What you did, what you expected and what happened
- The time the problem occurred and your time zone
- Screenshots with application content cropped out where possible
Don’t include passwords, secrets or full records of patients, customers or citizens. If we need data like that, we will arrange a secure way to receive it.
Common problems and fixes
An office action can't be moved to Issued
Likely cause: The draft still has a {{placeholder}} or an [Examiner: ...] instruction, or the application is no longer under examination.
What to do: Replace the remaining placeholders and instructions, or reopen the application, then try again.
The response due date looks wrong
Likely cause: The response period for the action type is a placeholder or was changed after the action was issued.
What to do: Check Examination settings, then correct the response due date on the action.
Examination can't start
Likely cause: The application has no examiner assigned.
What to do: Assign it to an examiner, then move it to Under examination.
A reference can't be relied on
Likely cause: Its relevance isn't Relevant or the passages relied on are empty.
What to do: Mark it Relevant and record the passages.
Someone can't find an application
Likely cause: It is unpublished and they aren't its examiner, on its team or a product administrator.
What to do: Add them to the examination team on the application.
Work API calls return unauthorized
Likely cause: The key expired or was revoked because its owner lost the Product administrator role.
What to do: A revoked or expired key can't be rotated. A current administrator creates a new key from Work API keys, which makes them its owner, and deploys it.
An office action can't be recorded as issued although the draft is complete
Likely cause: An examination rule applies: a second person must issue it, a search or a required source is missing, a non-final action must come first, or a reference is still under review.
What to do: Read the message on the action, complete what it names, or ask an administrator about the rules in Examination settings.
An issued action or a complete search can't be edited
Likely cause: Issued actions, complete searches and complete quality reviews are locked.
What to do: Record a new search, or draft a new action. Only the response due date and response received date of an issued action can change.