The Patent Law Treaty (PLT) is a treaty adopted by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on 1 June 2000 in Geneva, Switzerland. The treaty was signed by 53 states and the European Patent Organisation (EPOrg, an intergovernmental organization). It entered into force on April 28, 2005. It aims at harmonizing and streamlining formal procedures such as the requirements to obtain a filing date for a patent application, the form and content of a patent application, and representation. The treaty "does not establish a uniform procedure for all parties to the PLT but leaves parties free to require fewer or more user-friendly requirements than those provided in the PLT."[1] As of July 2026, the PLT had 44 contracting states.[2]

History

The adoption of the Patent Cooperation Treaty in 1970 simplified the filling of patent applications by harmonizing certain procedural requirements at the international level; however, many countries continued to differ in the patentability requirements they imposed in their national laws.[3] Thus, it became clear that there was also a need to harmonize the substantive requirements across the various jurisdictions in order to further improve and standardize the international patent system.

Negotiations to achieve such harmonization began in the mid-1980s. One of the first attempts was a draft of an instrument called the Patent Harmonization Treaty, which was discussed in a diplomatic conference held in The Hague in 1991.[3] However, the negotiations were abandoned in 1993 due to the opposition of the United States to accepting the “first-to-file” principle, and also because in a parallel way the TRIPS Agreement had been negotiated, which included many similar provisions to those taken in the draft of the Patent Harmonization Treaty.[3]

Two years later, during the meetings of the WIPO General Assembly and the Paris Union Assembly held between September 25 and October 3, 1995, it was agreed to convene a committee of experts to discuss a new draft of patent law treaty prepated by WIPO.[4] Such committee held its first session in Geneva from December 11 to 15, 1995 with the representation of 67 states members of WIPO or the Paris Union, and representatives of European Communities, the European Patent Office, the Organization of African Unity and the World Trade Organization as observers.[4]

The treaty negotiations lasted another four years until, in september 1999, during the Thirty-Fourth Series of Meetings of the WIPO Assembly of Member States, a resolution was adopted to convene a diplomatic conference for the adoption of the Patent Law Treaty (PLT).[5]

The Diplomatic Conference for the Adoption of the PLT was held in Geneva, Switzerland from May 11 to June 2, 2000. The Patent Law Treaty was adopted on June 1, 2000 and opened for signature on June 2, 2000. That day, 47 countries signed.[6]

Adoption process per country

France

Prior to the entry into force of the treaty in France, a bill was submitted on 14 January 2009 at the French Senate proposing the ratification of the PLT by France.[7][8] In March 2009, a report from French Senator Rachel Mazuir recommended the ratification of the PLT, as soon as possible, by France.[9][10] On 24 July 2009, the government was authorized to ratify the PLT.[11] The PLT then entered into force for France on 5 January 2010.[2]

United States

The Treaty was transmitted from the President to the Senate in 2006. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee issued its Executive Report 110-6 in November 2007. Non-self-executing portions of the PLT were implemented as statute by the Patent Law Treaties Implementation Act of 2012, Pub. Law 112-211 (Dec. 12, 2012). The PLT was ratified by the United States on 18 September 2013, and the ratification instrument was forwarded to WIPO. The Patent Office's implementing regulations were proposed at 78 Fed. Reg. 21788 (Apr. 11, 2013) and issued as a Final Rule at 78 Fed. Reg. 62367 (Oct. 21, 2013).

Mexico

Article 20(7)(3) of the proposed new NAFTA, in December 2019, stated that "Each Party shall give due consideration to ratifying or acceding to the PLT, or, in the alternative, shall adopt or maintain procedural standards consistent with the objective of the PLT".[12]

Contracting parties

Contracting States to the Patent Law Treaty and dates of entry into force[2]
Date State
28 April 2005Republic of Moldova, Kyrgyz Republic, Republic of Slovenia, Slovak Republic, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Ukraine, Republic of Estonia, Kingdom of Denmark, Republic of Croatia, Romania
15 December 2005Bahrain
6 March 2006Finland
22 March 2006United Kingdom (including the Isle of Man)
19 July 2006Uzbekistan
16 October 2007Oman
27 December 2007Sweden
12 March 2008Hungary
1 July 2008Switzerland
16 March 2009Australia
12 August 2009Russia
18 December 2009Liechtenstein
5 January 2010France
22 April 2010North Macedonia
17 May 2010Albania
12 June 2010Latvia
20 August 2010Serbia
27 December 2010Netherlands (the whole Kingdom, except Aruba)
19 October 2011Kazakhstan
3 February 2012Lithuania
9 March 2012Montenegro
9 May 2012Bosnia and Herzegovina
27 May 2012Ireland
3 August 2013Saudi Arabia
17 September 2013Armenia
18 December 2013United States
11 June 2016Japan
21 October 2016Belarus
4 January 2017Liberia
22 August 2018North Korea
25 June 2019Antigua and Barbuda
30 October 2019Canada
19 July 2021Turkmenistan

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mulder, Cees; van Woudenberg, Roel (2022). "New Rule 56a and amendments to Rule 56 EPC - Background, requirements and consequences". Epi Information.
  2. 1 2 3 "Contracting Parties > Patent Law Treaty". WIPO. Retrieved 10 July 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 Takenaka, Toshiko, ed. (26 April 2019). Research Handbook on Patent Law and Theory: Second Edition. Edward Elgar Publishing. pp. 35–36. doi:10.4337/9781785364129. ISBN 978-1-78536-412-9.
  4. 1 2 "PLT/CE/I/5. Committee of experts on the Patent Law Treaty. First Session. Geneva, December 11 to 15, 1995. Report adopted by the Committee of Experts". wipo.int. 15 December 1995. Retrieved 10 July 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ↑ World Intellectual Property Organization (29 September 1999). "A/34/16. Assemblies of the member states of WIPO. Thirty-Fourth Series of Meetings. Geneva, September 20 to 29, 1999. General Report" (PDF). wipo.int. p. 72. § 169. Retrieved 13 July 2026.
  6. ↑ World Intellectual Property Organization (2000). Records of the Diplomatic Conference for the Adoption of the Patent Law Treaty :: Geneva, 2000. World Intellectual Property Organization,. pp. 112–113. doi:10.34667/tind.28809.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  7. ↑ (in French) French Senate web site, Sénat, Session Ordinaire de 2008–2009, Annexe au procès-verbal de la séance du 14 janvier 2009, Projet de Loi autorisant la ratification du traité sur le droit des brevets, 14 January 2009. Consulted on 22 January 2009
  8. ↑ (in French) Laurent Teyssedre, Ratification du PLT, Le blog du droit européen des brevets, 20 January 2009. Consulted on 22 January 2009
  9. ↑ (in French) French Senate web site, Annexe au procès-verbal de la séance du 17 mars 2009, Rapport fait au nom de la commission des Affaires étrangères, de la défense et des forces armées sur le projet de loi autorisant la ratification du traité sur le droit des brevets, Par M. Rachel Mazuir, Sénateur
  10. ↑ (in French) Laurent Teyssedre, Ratification du PLT (suite), Le blog du droit européen des brevets, 25 March 2009. Consulted on 29 March 2009
  11. ↑ (in French) JORF n°0170 du 25 juillet 2009 page 12409, texte n° 3, LOI n° 2009-892 du 24 juillet 2009 autorisant la ratification du traité sur le droit des brevets, NOR: MAEJ0815903L
  12. ↑ CHAPTER 20: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS: Section A: General Provisions (PDF).

Further reading

  • Mulder, Cees (November 2014). "Patent Law Treaty: Promises Not Delivered-How the Negotiations Resulted in Ambiguities in the Treaty: Patent Law Treaty". The Journal of World Intellectual Property. 17 (5–6): 160–190. doi:10.1002/jwip.12028.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_Law_Treaty