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The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT): Trends, Challenges and the Future
“Hot topics in Foreign Patent Procurement and Enforcement”25th Annual ABA IPL Conference—April 8, 2010
• PCT Trends• PCT Challenges• The Future of the PCT
Outline
PCT Trends
• More countries…
PCT Trends
=PCT
AlbaniaAlgeriaAngolaAntigua and BarbudaArmeniaAustraliaAustriaAzerbaijanBahrain BarbadosBelarusBelgiumBelizeBeninBosnia and HerzegovinaBotswana BrazilBulgariaBurkina FasoCameroonCanadaCentral African RepublicChadChileChina Colombia Comoros Congo
Costa RicaCôte d'IvoireCroatiaCubaCyprusCzech RepublicDemocratic People's Republic of KoreaDenmarkDominicaDominican RepublicEcuadorEgyptEl SalvadorEquatorial Guinea EstoniaFinlandFrance,
GabonGambiaGeorgia GermanyGhana GreeceGrenadaGuatemalaGuinea
Guinea-Bissau HondurasHungaryIcelandIndiaIndonesiaIreland IsraelItalyJapanKazakhstanKenyaKyrgyzstanLao People’s Dem Rep.Latvia Lesotho LiberiaLibyan Arab JamahiriyaLiechtenstein LithuaniaLuxembourgMadagascar
MalawiMalaysiaMaliMaltaMauritaniaMexicoMonacoMongoliaMontenegroMoroccoMozambiqueNamibia NetherlandsNew ZealandNicaraguaNigerNigeriaNorwayOmanPapua New GuineaPeruPhilippines
PolandPortugalRepublic of Korea Republic of MoldovaRomaniaRussian FederationSaint LuciaSaint Vincent and the Grenadines San MarinoSao Tomé e PrincipeSenegalSeychellesSierra LeoneSingaporeSlovakiaSloveniaSouth AfricaSpainSri LankaSudanSwaziland
St. Kitts and NevisSwedenSwitzerlandSyrian Arab RepublicTajikistan ThailandThe former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia TogoTrinidad and Tobago TunisiaTurkeyTurkmenistanUgandaUkraineUnited Arab EmiratesUnited KingdomUnited Republic of TanzaniaUnited States of AmericaUzbekistanViet NamYugoslaviaZambiaZimbabwe
142 PCT States
• More countries…• More applications… (note where the growth is coming
from)
PCT Trends
PCT Statistics (estimated 2009)
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
140000
160000
180000
78 80 82 84 86 88 90 92 94 96 98 00 02 04 06 08
fall of 4.5% overall in 2009
0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000
35,000
40,000
45,000
50,000
US JP DE KR CN FR GB NL CH SE IT CA FI AU IL
International applications received in 2009 by country of origin (estimated)
China overtakes France for the first time (and files only 120 less than KR)
US: -11.4%
JP: +3.6%
DE: -11.2%
KR: +2.1%
CN: +29.7%
SE: -11.3%
CA: -11.7%
IL: -17.2%
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
ES DK AT BE IN NO SG RU BR IE ZA TR NZ LU MY MX
International applications received in 2009 by country of origin (estimated) –the next 16
Goes from 1,423 (ES) to 185 (MX)
Of note: ES: +2.4%DK: +3.8%AT: +12.4%BE: -8.7%IN: -28.9%SG: +5.5%RU: -29.1%NZ: -26.5%MY: +6.3%MX: -13.1%
• More countries…• More applications… (and note where the growth is
coming from)• More ISAs
PCT Trends
The ISAs are the following 17 offices: – Australia– Austria– Brazil– Canada– China– Egypt (hoping to begin operating April
2010)– Finland– India (not yet operating)– Israel (not yet operating)– Japan– Republic of Korea– Russian Federation– Spain– Sweden– United States of America– European Patent Office– Nordic Patent Institute
The PCT International Searching Authorities
• More countries…• More applications… (and note where the growth is
coming from)• More ISAs• A definite trend towards increased worksharing based
on international phase work – As proposed in Roadmap, consistent with vision of PCT
founders– PPH-PCT– Other offices—not part of PPH-PCT pilot—are independently
offering PPH-like effect based on positive PCT reports (e.g., GB)
PCT Trends
PCT Challenges
PCT Challenges (1)(not in any particular order)
• Keeping PCT from being politicized like many other parts of WIPO’s work
• Building trust between patent offices, so duplicative international phase and national phase processing can be reduced
• Quality of international work products• Language issues
– note supplementary search, PatentScope™ tools and other WIPO-developed services
• Developing countries (“how can we realistically benefit from PCT?”)– Top 15 countries responsible for 92.1% of IAs published in 2009– Top 32 countries filed 96% of IAs in 2009– The other 4% of filings are spread across 110 countries
PCT Challenges (2)
• Making PCT accessible to applicants of all types from all Contracting States (for example, SMEs)
• Helping PCT users stay abreast of new developments and strategies
• Unscrupulous companies/individuals who want to mislead PCT applicants into paying unrelated and unnecessary fees
The Future of the PCT
• Higher quality PCT searches and examinations– via ISA/IPEA quality management efforts and increased emphasis
on means for evaluating quality, 3rd party submissions, top-up searches, etc.
• PPH/PCT and its ramifications• More uniform system due to removal of incompatibilities and
reservations• Revitalized Chapter II• Continuing to focus on practical-level developments to
enhance the PCT user experience (for example, PatentScope™ enhancements, etc.)
• Collaborative international search and examination
The Future of the PCT
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