First Session of the Standing Committee onthe Law of Patents

Geneva, June 25, 1998
Press Updates UPD/1998/24

From June 15 to 19, 1998, the first session of the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) was held at the headquarters of WIPO.

This was the first session of "Standing Committees" established by the Assemblies of the member States of WIPO in March 1998, in order to give member States a more effective mechanism for setting priorities and allocating resources, and to ensure the coordination and continuity of interrelated on-going work. The SCP will serve as a forum to discuss issues, facilitate coordination and provide guidance concerning the progressive international development of the law of patents, including the harmonization of national laws and procedures.

As it was a newly created forum, the Standing Committee discussed firstly organizational and procedural matters, and adopted its Rules of Procedure. It also approved the establishment of the "SCP Electronic Forum" using the Internet. This would accelerate the process of discussion among the parties of the Committee directly concerned. For the time being, the Forum will be used for the distribution of the draft report and draft working documents and receipt of comments on those documents.

Secondly, the Standing Committee discussed the issues to be considered by that Committee, including patent formality harmonization, central recording of changes in patents and patent applications, disclosure of technical information on the Internet and its impact on patentability and biotechnological inventions. Two additional issues, namely substantive harmonization of patent laws and enforcement, were suggested. The Standing Committee agreed to revert to this at the next session. The Standing Committee also agreed that the WIPO Secretariat would gather information in the area of fee reductions in national patent offices.

The Standing Committee had an extensive discussion on the draft Patent Law Treaty, which pertains to formalities that may be required for the filing of patent applications and recordings by the Patent Offices and related matters, such as conditions for obtaining a filing date, representation, and conditions for extension of time limits and restoration of rights. During the course of the meeting, substantial progress was made on the detailed contents of the proposed Treaty, in particular, the provisions relating to extension of a time limit, restoration of rights and priority claims.

The Standing Committee reached the consensus that, in undertaking preparations for a Diplomatic Conference, it would, at one of its meetings in 1999, set dates for a Diplomatic Conference which could be held as early as the year 2000.

Discussions on the draft Patent Law Treaty will be continued at an additional meeting of this first session, which would be reconvened, preferably in November 1998.

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