GENEVA - Thailand’s Deputy Minister of Commerce, Alondkorn Ponlaboot, on September 24, 2009 deposited his country’s instrument of accession to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Director General Francis Gurry.
According to WIPO, Thailand is the 142nd contracting state of this multilateral pact that facilitates the filing of patents in multiple countries.
The treaty will enter into force for Thailand on December 24, 2009.
The accession by Thailand means that in any international application filed on or after December 24, 2009, Thailand (country code: TH) will automatically be designated, and as it will be bound by Chapter II of the Treaty, will automatically be elected in any demand for international preliminary examination filed in respect of an international application filed on or after December 24, 2009.
Also, as of that date, nationals and residents of Thailand will themselves be able to file PCT applications.
In a meeting with Ponlaboot, Gurry welcomed Thailand’s accession to the PCT which he said was “an extremely important step” that helps make the treaty a “more global and attractive system.”
The PCT system offers a number of advantages for patent applicants, national patent offices and the general public.
Some of the most important advantages offered by the PCT to patent applicants, include the following:
The PCT offers applicants seeking patent protection in multiple countries a more user-friendly, cost-effective and efficient option. By filing one “international” patent application under the PCT with one patent office (the receiving office) in one language, an applicant can seek patent protection for an invention simultaneously in each of a large number of countries.
PCT membership gives better access to the national patent systems in multiple countries. As the system offers a more user-friendly and cost-effective option for applicants seeking patent protection in multiple countries, PCT membership will normally result in an increase in the number of patent applications filed and a corresponding increase in revenues for the national patent office.
PCT membership may also result in reduced publication costs for those national offices which recognize the international publication of PCT applications for the purposes of national law.
The main advantage of the PCT to the broader public lies in the fact that the system facilitates and accelerates access to up-to-date technological information on inventions.
This results from the international publication of PCT applications (including the content of the international search reports) and the provision, free of charge, of copies of all published international applications to the national office of the contracting state which may then publicly disseminate that information.
