Why does your company use the PCT?

"On behalf of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., I would like to offer my congratulations to the World Intellectual Property Organization on the reception of the millionth PCT application.

From the beginning of this new century, we are witnessing across the globe the development of a highly information-based society centered around the digital network technology and the emergence of a society in which products and services effective on the international stage are able to flow across national borders and circulate on an ever-increasing global scale. For companies the expansion of this global market place has given intellectual property a level of importance never before experienced.

With these changes in the market environment, it is inevitable that the value of the PCT system, which facilitates the acquisition of patents in multiple countries, is increasing in line with changes in the market economy. I would like to thank wholeheartedly the World Intellectual Property Organization and the National Offices for having had the foresight to create an international patent system over thirty years ago and for having contributed to the continued development of this system since its creation.

Private companies envisage this PCT system as the driving force towards the harmonization of the world patent system, an element desired by companies for a long time. More specifically, this PCT system allows for the co-existence of independent national patent systems under territorial jurisdiction, while allowing patent applications to be filed in multiple countries under a single treaty on a procedural level, thereby offering an extremely beneficial system for companies with strategies to acquire patents globally.

Notably, the fact that national procedures for obtaining patent rights in each country can be performed for a certain period after the international filing date is a significant advantage for companies that regularly seek to strategically obtain patent protection in multiple countries for technology achievements that are beneficial to the international community. For companies striving to survive in an unforgiving business climate, it would not be an overstatement to say that the PCT system is fundamental in acquiring patent protection globally.

As a result of this kind of strategic patent acquisition, the cost for acquiring patents in multiple countries has been reduced, therefore the value of this system continues to grow. The fact that patent applications filed through the PCT system have now reached the milestone of one million clearly shows the high value attributed to this system by the patent applicants and how favorably it is being received.

Looking ahead to development in future world industries, companies are placing their hopes on further international development of the intellectual property system. In particular, from the perspective of the protection and use of developing technologies that could be useful on a global scale, we would like to see continuing development in the substantial harmonization of the national patent systems.

As technologies are being developed internationally, the ideal patent system would be one in which the intellectual property could be protected across the globe based on the same criteria, regardless of the country in which the invention is conceived. It is toward this worldwide patent system that we should be aiming. Private companies, including Matsushita, hope that the PCT system will continue to play a central role in realizing this type of ideal patent system.

Finally, I would like to thank the World Intellectual Property Organization and the National Offices and hope that the WIPO will continue with the important work in further developing the world intellectual property system."

Dr. Yoshihisa Fukushima
Director
Corporate Intellectual Property Division
Matsushita Electric Industrial Company

Selected published PCT applications by Matsushita