Transcript PCT Update 2012 April 2012 Quan-Ling Sim Head, PCT Outreach and User Relations Section.

PCT Update 2012
April 2012
Quan-Ling Sim
Head, PCT Outreach and User Relations Section
2
What’s New in 2012
Update on PCT membership and statistics
PCT rule changes
ePCT
Licensing
Third party observations
Office to office feedback
PCT-PPH
PATENTSCOPE
Future PCT changes / improvements
3
144 PCT Contracting States
Albania
Algeria
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Cameroon
Canada
Central African Republic
Chad
Chile
China
Colombia
Comoros
Congo
Costa Rica
Côte d'Ivoire
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Democratic People's
Republic of Korea
Denmark
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Estonia
Finland
France
Gabon
Gambia
Kenya
Georgia
Kyrgyzstan
Germany
Lao People’s Dem Rep.
Ghana
Latvia
Greece
Lesotho
Grenada
Liberia
Guatemala
Libya
Guinea
Liechtenstein
Guinea-Bissau
Lithuania
Honduras
Luxembourg
Hungary
Madagascar
Iceland
Malawi
India
Malaysia
Indonesia
Mali
Ireland
Malta
Israel
Mauritania
Italy
Mexico
Japan
Monaco
Kazakhstan
Mongolia
Montenegro
Morocco
Mozambique
Namibia
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
Norway
Oman
Papua New Guinea
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Republic of Korea
Republic of Moldova
Romania
Rwanda
Russian Federation
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and
the Grenadines
San Marino
Sao Tomé e Principe
Senegal
Serbia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Swaziland
Sweden
Switzerland
Syrian Arab Republic
Tajikistan
Thailand
The former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia
Togo
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United Republic of Tanzania
United States of America
Uzbekistan
Viet Nam
Zambia
Zimbabwe
4
Countries not yet PCT Contracting States
Afghanistan
Andorra
Argentina
Bahamas
Bangladesh
Bhutan
Bolivia
Brunei Darussalam
Burundi
Cambodia
Cape Verde
Democratic Republic of Congo
Djibouti
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Fiji
Guyana
Haiti
Iran (Islamic Republic of)
Iraq
Jamaica
Jordan
Kiribati
Kuwait
Lebanon
Maldives
Marshall Islands
Mauritius
Micronesia
Myanmar
Nauru
Nepal
Pakistan
Palau
Panama
Paraguay
Samoa
Saudi Arabia
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Sudan
Suriname
Timor-Leste
Tonga
Tuvalu
Uruguay
Vanuatu
Venezuela
Yemen
(49)
5
Update on ISAs/IPEAs
The Israel Patent Office will become operational as an
ISA/IPEA as from 1 June 2012
For international applications filed with RO/IL or RO/IB
on or after 1 June 2012 by applicants who are eligible to
file with RO/IL
6
PCT Applications
200000
180000
160000
140000
120000
Record filings in 2011
181,900 applications
10.7% increase over 2010
Fastest growth since 2005
100000
80000
60000
40000
20000
0
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 08 09 10 11
7
Filings by Country of Origin (2011)
(estimate)
50000
Examples of increases in
certain national Offices
45000
40000
CN: +33.4 %
35000
JP: + 21.0 %
30000
US: +8.0 %
25000
20000
KR: +8.0 %
15000
DE: + 5.7 %
10000
5000
0
US
JP
DE
CN
KR
FR
GB
CH
NL
SE
CA
IT
FI
AU
ES
8
Top PCT Applicants (2011)
1. ZTE--CN (2826)
2. Panasonic--JP (2463)
3. Huawei--CN (1831)
4. Sharp--JP (1755)
5. Bosch--DE (1518)
6. Qualcomm--US (1494)
7. Toyota--JP (1417)
8. LG Electronics--KR (1336)
9. Philips--NL (1148)
10. Ericsson--SE (1116)
11. NEC--JP (1056)
12. Siemens--DE (1039)
13. Mitsubishi Electric--JP (834)
14. BASF--DE (773)
15. Samsung Electronics--KR (757)
16. Nokia--FI (698)
17. IBM--US (661)
18. HP--US (591)
19. 3M--US (563)
20. Hitachi--JP (547)
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PCT Rule Changes 2012 (1)
Entry into force on July 1, 2012
(1) Minor housekeeping amendments related to priority
documents and incorporation by reference (Rules
17.1(b-bis) and 20.7(b))
(2) Inclusion of Chinese patent documents in the PCT
minimum documentation
Amended Rule 34
Applies to all international searches carried out on or
after July 1, 2012
10
PCT Rule Changes 2012 (2)
(3) Excuse of delay in meeting PCT time limits
New Rule 82quater (Force Majeure)
Case by case determination by Offices
Does not apply to the 12 month priority period
Does not apply to the time limit for national phase
entry
No fee payment required
Applies to all PCT applications for which the 6-month
time limit for the submission of evidence expires on or
after July 1, 2012
11
ePCT (1)
WIPO online service that provides secure electronic
access to the files of PCT applications maintained by the
International Bureau
In the January 2012 edition of the PCT Newsletter, it was
announced that ePCT could be used by any interested
applicant in respect of PCT applications filed as from
1 January 2009
Secure access via ePCT private services requires a
WIPO user account and valid digital certificate
Access via ePCT public services for online document
upload requires only a basic WIPO user account (no
additional authentication is required).
12
ePCT (2) – Main Features
Up-to-date bibliographic data and status information
View processing status of documents
Uploaded documents are immediately visible in the file view
Automatic generation of a signed cover letter for uploaded
documents to comply with PCT Rule 92.1 requirement
Manage access rights
Download individual documents or packages
Secure messaging for contact with WIPO Processing Team
Leave private notes invisible to the IB and not appearing as part of
the application file
History of actions taken
Customizable notification preferences (e-mail warnings)
Online actions for withdrawals (PCT applications and priority claims)
and Rule 92bis changes
13
ePCT (3) – Future Improvements
Online web filing of new PCT applications
NOT currently possible to file PCT applications using
ePCT
Further online actions, e.g., withdrawal of Demand,
designations and/or elections, request to indicate
availability for licensing, etc
Third party observations
Extension of ePCT to interested Offices in their various
capacities (RO, ISA, SISA, IPEA, DO, EO)
14
PCT Online Document Upload
Existing online document upload (separate from ePCT)
to be decommissioned in July 2012
Document upload integrated in ePCT
WIPO User Account (public or private) required to use
ePCT document upload
15
Sign-up Now for ePCT
https://pct.wipo.int/ePCT
ePCT video tutorials
16
Licensing Indications
Applicants can indicate the availability of a PCT
application for licensing
New Form PCT/IB/382 “Request for indication of
availability for licensing purposes”
Available as from January 1, 2012
Can be submitted at any time prior to the expiration of 30
months from priority
The licensing-related information will be
published in the application bibliographic data
searchable in PATENTSCOPE
17
Third Party Observations (1)
Allows third parties to submit prior art observations
relevant to novelty and inventive step
Limited to the international phase
Objective is to provide national Offices with the most
complete information possible on which to base their
decisions
18
Third Party Observations (2)
Main Features
Web-based system using web-forms in PATENTSCOPE
Free-of-charge
Third party identity may be withheld from the applicant or
the public
Submissions possible until the expiration of 28 months
from the priority date
Third-party supplied documents will not be available via
PATENTSCOPE but will be made available to
International Authorities and national Offices
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Third Party Observations (3)
Role of the International Bureau
Check for spam
Notifies the applicant of submission of observations
Makes observations available in PATENTSCOPE
Sends to national Offices observations, cited documents,
and applicant responses
Expected launch in July 2012
20
Office to Office Quality Feedback
System being developed that would allow national
Offices to provide quality-related feedback to
International Authorities (ISA/IPEA/SISA)
Offices providing feedback would upload a file to the
International Bureau using PCT Electronic Data
Interchange (PCT-EDI)
Feedback will then be communicated by the International
Bureau to the International Authority concerned
21
PCT-PPH (1)
Patent Prosecution Highway originally conceived as a
bilateral agreement between two patent Offices
Accelerated patent prosecution in the office of second
filing based on the work product of the first office
PCT-PPH is an expansion of the original PPH whereby
accelerated patent prosecution may be available on the
basis of positive PCT work products, e.g., written
opinion, IPRP Ch.I or Ch.II
http://www.wipo.int/pct/en/filing/pct_pph.html
22
PCT-PPH (2)
JPO statistics (Jan-June 2011)
Average pendency from PPH request to final decision
Non-PPH: 33.4 months
PPH: 7.4 months
PCT-PPH: 3.5 months
Grant rate
Non-PPH: 58.1%
PPH: 68.3%
PCT-PPH: 93.6%
23
PCT-PPH (3)
USPTO statistics (Jan-June 2011)
Average pendency from PPH request to final decision
Non-PPH: 33.5 months
PPH: 11.6 months
PCT-PPH: 5.5 months
Grant rate
Non-PPH: 47%
PPH: 89%
PCT-PPH: 96%
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PCT-PPH (4)
“Using PCT-PPH to get US patents faster”—Carl
Oppedahl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnSShsUHXss
Discussions under way to develop a uniform (plurilateral)
scheme “PPH 2.0” designed to streamline and simplify
the multitude of co-existing bilateral PPH arrangements
25
PATENTSCOPE (1)
National/regional patent collections in PATENTSCOPE (28)
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican
Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Israel,
Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Republic of
Korea, Russian Federation including USSR, Singapore, South
Africa, Spain, Uruguay, Viet Nam, ARIPO, EPO, LATIPAT
More than 10 million national and regional patents and
applications searchable, including 2 million published PCT
applications
On-the-fly translations of PCT descriptions and claims (and patents
in national collections) in 52 languages via Google Translate
Special tool for Korean to English applications
Machine translation tool for titles and abstracts (cut/paste)
En/Fr, Fr/En, En/Cn, Cn/En currently
Kr/En, Jp/En coming soon
26
PATENTSCOPE (2)
New customizable interface for those creating free account
Can save settings (such as default interface and length of search
list), save queries, download result list, etc.
National phase information from 43 countries + 3 IGOs
CLIR (Cross-Lingual Information Retrieval)
Allows you to search a term or phrase and its variants in English,
French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Russian
and Portuguese while entering query in only 1 language
Search PATENTSCOPE on your smartphone
http://www.wipo.int/patentscope/search/mobile/index.jsf
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PATENTSCOPE (3)
Corpus of English/French PCT titles and abstracts (20 years of data)
available for purchase, or free for research purposes
8 million parallel segments/170 million words
Will contribute to improving quality of machine translation
systems for patent documents
Other language pairs planned
28
PCT Governance Structure
Meeting of International Authorities
Meeting: February 8-10, 2012
http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/details.jsp?meeting_id=24745
PCT Working Group
Meeting: May 29-June 1, 2012
http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/details.jsp?meeting_id=25017
PCT Union Assembly
Meeting: October 1-9, 2012
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Future PCT Changes / Improvements
Color drawings
ePCT
Collaborative search and examination
Pilot project between the EPO, KIPO and USPTO on
the co-production of the ISR and the Written Opinion
for PCT applications
Sequence listing standard
30
Questions / Feedback
PCT Information Service
Telephone: (+41-22) 338 83 38
Facsimile: (+41-22) 338 83 39
E-mail: [email protected]
Today’s webinar and slides will be available for download from the
PCT webinar page over the next few days:
http://www.wipo.int/pct/en/seminar/webinars/index.html
Webinar survey