Using the Patent Cooperation Treaty as a Strategic Tool for Business Success Seminar on Intellectual...

Using the Patent Cooperation Treaty as a Strategic Tool for Business Success

Seminar on Intellectual Property and Creative Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in the Digital Environment

Matthew R. Bryan - Director, Patent Cooperation Treaty Legal Division, WIPO(May 21, 2008)

1) What is the PCT?

2) The advantages of the PCT

1) What is the PCT?

Using the traditional patent system to seek international patent protection

Local patent application followed within 12 months by multiple foreign applications claiming priority under Paris Convention:

- multiple formality requirements

- multiple searches

- multiple publications

- multiple examinations and prosecutions of applications

- translations and national fees required at 12 months

Some rationalization because of regional arrangements:

ARIPO, EAPO, EPO, OAPI

0 12

Fileapplication

locally

Fileapplications

abroad

(months)

• A mainly procedural international treaty facilitating certain steps in the process of obtaining patents internationally

• More specifically, the PCT establishes a procedure for the filing and processing of a single application for a patent which has legal effect in the countries which are Treaty members

• Simplifies the procedure for obtaining patent protection in many countries, making it more efficient and economical for:

(1) users of the patent system (applicants and inventors); and (2) patent Offices

The PCT System--typical use, in more detail

(months)

File PCTapplication

120 30

International search report

& written opinion

16 18

Internationalpublication

(optional)File

demand forInternational

preliminary examination

File localapplication

Enternationalphase

22 28

(optional)International preliminary report on

patentability

Typically a national patent application in the home country of

the applicant


(months)

File PCTapplication

120 30


& written opinion

16 18


(optional)File




Enternationalphase

22 28


patentabilityTypically filed in same

national patent office--one set of fees, one language,

one set of formality requirements--and legal effect in all PCT States


(months)

File PCTapplication

120 30


& written opinion

16 18


(optional)File




Enternationalphase

22 28


patentability

Report on state of the art (prior art

documents and their relevance) + initial

patentability opinion

• Today: the Patent Offices of – Australia– Austria– Canada– China– Finland– Japan– Republic of Korea– Russian Federation– Spain– Sweden– United States of America– European Patent Office– Nordic Patent Institute

• Soon: the Patent Offices of India and Brazil

The PCT International Searching Authorities


(months)

File PCTapplication

120 30


& written opinion

16 18


(optional)File




Enternationalphase

22 28


patentability

Disclosing to world content of application in standardized way


(months)

File PCTapplication

120 30


& written opinion

16 18


(optional)File




Enternationalphase

22 28


patentability

Request an additional patentability analysis on basis

of amended application


(months)

File PCTapplication

120 30


& written opinion

16 18


(optional)File




Enternationalphase

22 28


patentability

Additional patentability analysis, designed to assist in national phase decision-

making


(months)

File PCTapplication

120 30


& written opinion

16 18


(optional)File




Enternationalphase

22 28


patentability

Express intention and take steps to pursue to grant in

various states

General remarks on the PCT system (1)

• The PCT system is a patent “filing” system, not a patent “granting” system. There is no “PCT patent” or “global patent”

• The decision on granting patents is made exclusively by national or regional Offices in the national phase

• Only inventions may be protected via the PCT by applying for patents, utility models and similar titles

• Design and trademark protection cannot be obtained via the PCT. There are separate international conventions dealing with these types of industrial property protection (the Hague Agreement and the Madrid Agreement and Protocol, respectively)

10.02.05

• The PCT is administered by WIPO as are other international conventions in the field of industrial property, such as the Paris Convention

• PCT signed in June 1970, in Washington, D.C., and became operational in June 1978 with 18 States

General remarks on the PCT system (2)

=PCT

AlbaniaAlgeriaAngolaAntigua and BarbudaArmeniaAustraliaAustriaAzerbaijanBahrain BarbadosBelarusBelgiumBelizeBeninBosnia and HerzegovinaBotswana BrazilBulgariaBurkina FasoCameroonCanadaCentral African RepublicChadChina 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 GuineaPhilippines

PolandPortugalRepublic of Korea Republic of MoldovaRomaniaRussian FederationSaint LuciaSaint Vincent and the Grenadines San MarinoSao Tomé e Principe (3 July 08)SenegalSeychellesSierra LeoneSingaporeSlovakiaSloveniaSouth AfricaSpainSri LankaSudanSwaziland

St. Kitts and NevisSwedenSwitzerlandSyrian Arab RepublicTajikistan The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia TogoTrinidad and Tobago TunisiaTurkeyTurkmenistanUgandaUkraineUnited Arab EmiratesUnited KingdomUnited Republic of TanzaniaUnited States of AmericaUzbekistanViet NamYugoslaviaZambiaZimbabwe

139 PCT States

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

160000

78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07

Approx. 156,100 total

filings in 2007 =

+4.7%

Growth in PCT filings

0

10'000

20'000

30'000

40'000

50'000

60'000

US JP DE KR FR GB CN NL CH SE IT CA AU FI IL

International applications received in 2007 by country of origin

(2) Why use the PCT?: its advantages

Most businesses worldwide which seek and use patents share objectives to:

1) control costs while preserving options

2) make informed business decisions

3) use the best tools available when seeking protection

The PCT responds to these objectivesThe PCT responds to these objectives

1. postpones the major costs associated with internationalizing a patent application

2. provides a strong basis for patenting decisions

3. harmonizes formal requirements

4. brings the world within reach

5. protects applicant from certain inadvertent errors

6. evolves to meet user needs

7. is used by the world’s major corporations, universities and research institutions when they seek international patent protection

8. allows applicants to apply securely and easily online, and to save money by doing so

The PCT, as the cornerstone of the international patent system, provides a worldwide system for simplified filing and processing of patent applications, which--

1. Postpones the major costs associated with internationalizing a patent application

Traditional patent systemvs.

PCT systemFees for:

--translations--Office fees--local agents

0 12

File local application

Fileapplications

abroad(months)

Traditional

(months)

File PCTapplication

12 30

International search report & written opinion

16 18


(optional)File




Enternationalphase

22 28


patentability

PCT 0

Fees for:

--translations--Office fees--local agents

PCT Costs--in perspective According to IP Global Estimator, the total cost of hypothetical application (RO/US, ISA/EP, 46 pages/12 claims w/3 independent, national phase in AU, CA, EPO, JP, MX, US, and EP

validation in DE, FR, GB, IT, NL & SE, + maintenance fees--from filing until expiration of 12 national phase patents at 20 years from the

filing date) would be USD $232,742

The PCT filing fees, including the international search by the EPO, (total: USD $3,637) represented 1.6% of what the PCT applicant could expect to pay throughout the full life of this patent family

If the payment of annual maintenance fees is eliminated from the above calculation, the total amount that the applicant would expect to pay to see his/her patents granted is reduced to USD $86,398. PCT filing fees would then represent 4.2% of this amount[Estimate date: July 1, 2007]

2. Provides a strong basis for patenting decisions

Documents relevant to whether or not your

invention may be patentable

Symbols indicatingwhich aspect of

patentability the document cited is

relevant to (for example, novelty, inventive step,

etc.)

The claim numbersin your application to

which the document isrelevant

Example: international search report

Example: written opinion of the ISA

Patentability assessment of claims

Reasoning supporting the

assessment

3. Harmonizes formal requirements

PCT Applicant’s Guide, paragraph 26: “There is a prescribed form for the international application. This form must be accepted by all designated Offices for the purposes of the national phase, so that there is no need to comply with a great variety of widely differing formal requirements in the many countries in which protection may be sought.”

PCT Article 27(1): “No national law shall require compliance with requirements relating to the form or contents of the international application different from or additional to those which are provided for in this Treaty and Regulations.”

4. Brings the world within reach

How?

PCT application = Legal effect of a regular national patentapplication in all PCT States

5. protects applicants from certain inadvertent errors

• invited corrections of defects & fee payments

• non-competent receiving Office

• double formality review

• restoration of priority

• missing parts

• rectification of obvious mistakes

• excuse of national phase entry delay

6. Evolves to meet user needs

(1) MIA meeting—April 7-9, 2008 in Vienna

(2) PCT Asia –-April 21-22, 2008, in Singapore

(3) PCT Working Group—week of May 26, 2008 in Geneva

(4) PCT Assembly—September/October 2008

PCT Meetings Calendar

7. Is used by the world’s major corporations, universities and research institutions

when they seek international patent protection

Top PCT Applicants (2007)1. Matsushita Electric—JP (2100)2. Philips—NL (2041)3. Siemens—DE (1644)4. Huawei—CN (1365) 5. Bosch—DE (1146)6. Toyota—JP (997)7. Qualcomm—US (974)8. Microsoft—US (845)9. Motorola—US (824)10. Nokia—FI (8922)11. BASF—DE (810)12. 3M—US (769)13. LG Electronics—KR (719)14. Fujitsu—JP (708)15. Sharp—JP (702)16. NEC—JP (626)17. Intel—US (623)18. Pioneer—US (611)19. IBM—US (606)20. Samsung—KR (598)

Other PCT users

Hitachi (JP)British Telecom (GB)MCI (US)

AT&T (US)

Boeing (US)McDonnell Douglas (US)

Nestle (CH)Novartis (CH)Colgate Palmolive (US)L’Oreal (FR)Rhone Poulenc (FR)Hoechst (US y DE)Glaxo (GB)Leica (CH)

Daimler Benz (DE)Volvo (SE)Ford (US)Nissan (JP)Renault (FR)Honda (JP)Kawasaki (JP)

Shell (NL)Elf (FR)

Salomon (FR)

CNRS (FR)

MIT (US)University of Texas (US)CalTech (US)Johns Hopkins(US)University of Michigan (US)Columbia University (US)Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (US)University of Florida (US)Stanford University (US)

8. apply securely and easily online, and save money by doing so

PCT Electronic filing overview1. Prepare application body: in XML using the PCT-SAFE Editor or in PDF

2. Prepare Request using free, WIPO-produced PCT-SAFE software

3. Electronically sign: WIPO Customer digital certificate or other

0101010

1010101

0101010Signat

ure

4. Transmit (on-line or on CD-R)

5. Receive a receipt (for on-line filings)

PCT efilings—2007

PCT E-filing fee reductions 100 Swiss francs: paper filings

request printout created with PCT-SAFE

diskette prepared with PCT- SAFE

100 Swiss francs: electronic filings request not in character coded format

(for ex., PDF)

200 Swiss francs: electronic filingstext of application not in character

coded format (for example, PDF)

300 Swiss francs: electronic filingstext of application in character coded

format (for example, XML)

• For further information about the PCT, see

http://www.wipo.int/pct/en/

• For general questions about the PCT, contact the PCT Information Service at:

Telephone: (+41-22) 338 83 38

Facsimile: (+41-22) 338 83 39

E-mail: [email protected]

Where to get help

Questions?

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