PCT 2005 - One Million and Counting

WIPO paid tribute to the world's innovators at a celebration in Geneva on January 14 to mark one million Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications. Representatives from major PCT user companies - Philips Electronics, Nokia, Samsung Electronics, Procter and Gamble, Huawei Technologies and Matsushita Electric - gathered to talk about why they use WIPO's international patent filing system, as well as the challenges faced in its further development.

WIPO Deputy Director General Francis Gurry described the founders of the PCT as visionaries. "The patent system is the best system that is available to encourage innovation which leads to improvement in the quality of life," he said. "Without the patent system, companies would seek to retain their competitive advantage through secrecy and the public domain would be the poorer."

One million applications speak for the PCT's success. Set up to offer inventors a user-friendly, cost-effective and efficient system for filing international patent applications, membership has snowballed since the PCT began operating in 1978. The system now counts 125 member countries. Expansion has been accompanied by regular updating of PCT Regulations to meet the needs of applicants and patent offices.

"Using the PCT system has allowed us to streamline our internal processes while maintaining maximum flexibility in obtaining patent protection. One of the most important [future challenges for the PCT] will be its ability to maintain the cost/benefit value to applicants while it reduces backlogs and increases functionality in electronic document exchange." Gary L. Griswold, President and Chief Intellectual Property Counsel, 3M Innovative Properties Company, US.

Creators great and small

From the biggest corporations, to universities, to small businesses and individuals, the PCT serves innovators from all walks of life. Complex advances in digital technology, life-saving discoveries in biotechnology, new products using traditional knowledge, labor-saving devices, games - all are among the more than 10,000 applications now processed by the PCT Office each month. Here is a sample of the new ideas and new solutions, which continue to pour in from across the globe:

* Apple Computer Inc. used the PCT for its iTunes music store, now countering digital piracy with a legal solution for downloading music.

* Ashok Gadgil's...