During the week of 14 to 18 June 2010, PCT Member states considered proposals to improve the PCT potential contribution to higher quality and more efficiently granted patents at the national/regional level.
The recommendations that came out of the meeting were based on a WIPO study entitled, " The Need for Improving the Functioning of the PCT System."
Some practical steps endorsed by the meeting's attendees include the development of computer systems that:
- allow third parties to submit information that is potentially relevant to patentability
- support technology transfer by promoting the licensing of inventions
At inovia, we are always delighted to see news like this - in line with the general momentum we've seen building towards getting patent offices working smarter together.
Whether it's the ever-expanding Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) programs or the Vancouver Group (the UK, Canadian and Australian patent offices sharing search and examination outcomes), there's clearly no going back to the days when patent offices worked alone.
Whether any of this will be enough to get backlogs under control is yet to be seen, but at least there seem to be some steps in the right direction
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