A Study of Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and the Impact of E-Technology

The well known proverb ‘Knowledge is Power ’ has its roots from the beginning of human life on the earth and it was rewarded at every stage of the human civilization. The protection of intellectual property was started way back in 1474 (Venetian Statute of 1474 – the first patent law). From that time, the protection of inventions started in all fields of science and technology. We have now entered the era of knowledge economy, where intellectual property is playing a vital role. The human intellect is being utilized more and more to exploit potential creative instinct for inventing new technologies towards making the life more comfortable. In this process of innovation explosion, patents have emerged as great protection tools for the innovators to protect their inventions from unlawful usage. The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), which provides a simplified system for international patenting, has become a major route for filing patent applications in a large number of member states. With the advent of internet technology, the prior-art and patent search has become simple and it has saved significant time for patent grant. This paper analyses the trend of international patent filing under the PCT system in developed as well as developing countries under different technical fields as per international patent classification (IPC) by subclass and the impact of internet as well as the e-filing which was introduced in 2003. It is found that the density of patent applications filed have substantially increased in the post-internet era