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