WIPO publishes three millionth PCT application

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has published its three millionth patent application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

The application, for a “Vector network analyser”, was filed by Germany-based Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, Europe’s largest organisation for applied research. It was published on Thursday, February 2.

Fraunhofer is a major user of the PCT, filing almost 300 applications on average annually under the PCT over the last five years.

WIPO director general Francis Gurry, in a memo issued on the same day, emphasised the need for the PCT system to “further evolve” so it can continue to function as a “primary tool to support innovation”.

The memo was intended to provide “food for thought” on broad directions and priorities for possible future work aimed at further improving the system.

It suggested that the primary route to achieving the aims of WIPO is to put a renewed emphasis on cooperation, “mostly requiring changes to the behaviours and actions of offices (including the International Bureau) rather than significant changes to the legal framework”.

Gurry added that the past 15 years have seen enormous improvements to the PCT system, driven by changes to the legal framework.

“However, the further progress which can be driven by such changes is limited,” said Gurry, although he added that changes to the legal framework will continue to play a “supportive role”.

It is now mainly up to the contracting states and national and regional offices to “put further life” into that cooperation aim, he said.

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