Electronic Patent Filing Opportunities Increasing

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

20 October 2006

Applicants in an increasing number of countries are now able to file an international patent application electronically through their national or regional patent office, according to the World Intellectual Property Organisation.

This is now possible in Australia, Denmark, the European Patent Office (EPO), Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Philippines, Poland, Republic of Korea, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States of America for applicants under the WIPO Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) taking advantage of the PCT-SAFE (Secure Applications Filed Electronically) system.

Companies and inventors seeking patent protection in multiple countries have been able to electronically file their international application with WIPO as receiving office since February 2004.

According to WIPO, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the most recent office to adapt its electronic filing software to facilitate the filing of PCT applications.

On October 14, the USPTO expanded EFS-Web, the USPTO’s web-based patent application and document submission solution, to allow the inclusion of bibliographic data produced by PCT-SAFE.

Specifically, users are now able to file a new international application under the PCT and a wide range of other correspondence relating to a previously filed international application under the PCT with the United States receiving office, the United States International Searching Authority and the United States International Preliminary Examining Authority.

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