Department of Intellectual Property will officially open the Patent Cooperation Treaty Receiving Office to assist Thai inventors who want to file patent application in multiple countries.

Deputy Minister of Commerce, Mr. Alongkorn Ponlaboot, together with Mrs. Puangrat Asavapisit, Director-General of the Department of Intellectual Property, makes the media announcement today on the opening of Patent Cooperation Treaty Receiving Office (PCT Receiving Office) to support the international filing system for patent under the system of Patent Cooperation Treaty or PCT, administered by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) . The move follows the great success of Department of Intellectual Property in becoming a new member of the PCT, which has also 141 member and associate countries. It will help protect the Thai wisdoms abroad more effectively. Mr. Alongkorn reveals that the Commerce Ministry has played an active role during the past 10 years in becoming the member of PCT, starting from the amendment of local regulations and orders, seeking approval from the cabinet and the parliament, taking preparation on the patent evaluation system and institution capacity building for Department of Intellectual Property. Recently, the Cabinet approved the draft Ministerial Regulation implementing PCT system in Thailand on September 8. The draft has been already reviewed by Office of the Council of State of Thailand. The Foreign Ministry then submitted the Instrument of Accession to the PCT for Thailand to become a membership on September 24. As a result, Thailand has become the 142th member of PCT. Mrs. Puangrat Asavapisit, Director-General of the Department of Intellectual Property, discloses that following the attendance of Department of Intellectual Property at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)'s annual conference being held recently in Geneva, the department had submitted the Instrument of Accession to the Director General of the WIPO on September 24 this year to become the member of Patent Cooperation Treaty or PCT, in which will be entered into force for Thailand 3 months from now. Therefore, the Department of Intellectual Property to receive the PCT application filed on or after December 24, 2009. It is a good news for Thai inventors as the newly set-up office will be officially opened to accept all application for patent registrations. It will be convenient for Thai inventors and researchers, who want to apply for patent within the PCT member states by filing a single PCT application at the office. So, they can safe time and be more cost-efficiency. Department of Intellectual Property makes the press conference today to announce the opening of the PCT Receiving Office for accepting an international application for patent in order to communicate the news to all Thai inventors and other interested people, who want to know the registration process under PCT's terms and conditions. The Department of Intellectual Property will start accepting requests for international trademark and patent registrations on December 24 this year, three months after Thailand submitted the Instrument of Accession to the PCT. The International Trademark and Patent Registrations Office will be opened from Monday to Friday, 9.00 am to 16.30 pm . The persons who are interested can look for more information at Tel 02-5474717 or at website: www.ipthailand.org. The PCT system offers Thai inventors, researchers or exporters, who seek patent protection in multiple countries a more user-friendly, cost-effective and efficient option. In using the PCT, applicants are allowed at least 18 months more time than if they filed directly with individual national patent offices, to decide whether and in which countries they wish to pursue patent protection. Therefore, they have more time to research on potentials of the markets and able to save their time and expenditure occurred from traveling to do patent registrations in such markets directly. They will be also able to manage and utilize their inventions' benefits more effectively. Beyond this, the PCT Receiving Office will also collect all statistic figures of patent application filing by Thai people to other countries all over the world. Over times, we are unable to collect such concrete information and statistic figures because Thai applicants have to submit the application directly by themselves while some have processed their registrations through law firms. According to a figure declared by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), 22 Thai people had submitted the patent applications in the US last year. The European Patent Office (EPO) also disclosed that 15 Thai people had submitted their patent applications in the European Union last year. The real figures however may be higher. Once Thailand becomes the member of PCT, Thai inventors will be more benefit from the system and we are expected to see more numbers of patent applications overseas, said Mrs. Puangrat. สามารถคลิกดูภาพประกอบได้ที่ www.thaipr.net

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