Fast track for patents
1 min read
The government has announced a new fast-track procedure for approving international patent applications, which could cut waiting times by more than a year.
The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has introduced the scheme to help tackle the worldwide backlog of patent applications, which is estimated to cost the global economy £7.6 billion a year. The UK is among the first to introduce such a fast-track scheme.
Intellectual property minister Baroness Wilcox said: "Innovation is one of the main driving forces for Britain's economic recovery. Delays in dealing with patent applications prevent firms from expanding and creating new jobs.
"It is essential that businesses can take ideas from the drawing board to the market as quickly as possible. Securing a patent is an integral part of that process. "The new fast-track procedure will make it quicker for business to turn innovation and ideas into products and jobs."
The new procedure will apply to applications filed under the international Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) which aims to stop work being duplicated when an applicant wants patent protection for the same invention in several countries.
For information on the changes, see www.ipo.gov.uk/p-pn-fasttrack.
