UK To Fast-Track Patent Applications

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London

01 June 2010

The UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) has launched a new fast-track procedure for approving international patent applications that it says will cut waiting times by more than a year.

Prime Minister David Cameron announced the new scheme during a speech in Leeds on Monday, which set out his vision for transforming the UK economy.

The UKIPO has introduced the scheme, announced by Prime Minister David Cameron on May 28, to help tackle the worldwide backlog of patent applications, which costs the global economy an estimated GBP7.6bn a year.

The UK's new Intellectual Property Minister, Baroness Wilcox, welcomed the announcement:

"Innovation is one of the main driving forces for Britain’s economic recovery. Delays in dealing with patent applications prevent firms from expanding and creating new jobs. It is essential that businesses can take ideas from the drawing board to the market as quickly as possible.  Securing a patent is an integral part of that process."

"The new fast-track procedure will make it quicker for business to turn innovation and ideas into products and jobs. Britain is leading the way in identifying and dealing with the patent backlog. I hope other countries will establish similar fast-track schemes to tackle this problem."

The new procedure will apply to applications filed under the international Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). The UK is one of 142 countries which have signed up to the Treaty.

Under the PCT, applications undergo a preliminary assessment of their patentability before being passed to individual nations to consider the details. The Treaty aims to stop work being duplicated when an applicant wants patent protection for the same invention in several countries.

Businesses and individuals can apply under the new UK scheme for their application to be dealt with under the PCT (UK) Fast-Track when it has been approved in the international phase.

Applicants requesting the fast-track service will receive an examination report within two months. Under current timescales this could take more than 18 months.

The UK is among the first to introduce a fast-track procedure, and it is hoped other countries will establish similar schemes to encourage applicants to make full use of the international phase.

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