The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) marked the filing of the one millionth international patent application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) in the 26-year history of the PCT. The Director General observed "While it took 22 years to receive the first half million PCT patent applications, it took only 4 years to top the one million mark, reflecting an astonishing acceleration in the pace of technological development and unprecedented use of the international patent system." The PCT facilitates the process of obtaining patent protection in more than 120 countries through the filing of a single international application.
The largest users of the PCT system have originated from the United States of America, Japan, Germany, the UK and France. That said, the numbers of PCT applications from several developing country members continue to show a marked increase, most notably in India and the Republic of Korea which enjoyed double-digit growth in 2003.
See the entire press release here.
