TOPIC NAME

PATENT LAW TREATY(PLT)

 INTRODUCTION
• A patent is a legal monopoly granted for a limited time
to the owner of an invention. It empowers the owner of
an invention to prevent others from manufacturing ,
using , importing or selling the patented invention.
• Patent Act , 1970 as amended in the years 1998 and
1999 along with Patent Rules , 1972 govern patents in
India.
 What is PATENT ?
 Patent is a monopoly granted by statute of a country
for a limited term over a new and useful invention that
involves inventive step. Invention may either for a
product or process.
 The rights enjoyed by owner of the patent are
proprietary in nature and the patentee or his agent or
licensees has the exclusive right to use and have the
benefits of patented invention and prevent unauthorized
use, during the period of patent protection.
 Period during which the owner enjoys the benefits is
called term of the patent.
 PATENT LAW TREATY(PLT)
 The Patent Law Treaty(PLT) was adopted in 2000 with
the aim of harmonizing and streamlining formal
procedures with respect to national and regional patent
applications and patents and making such procedures
more user friendly.
 With the significant exception of filing date
requirements, the PLT provides the maximum sets of
requirements the office of a Contracting Party may
apply.
 The Patent Law Treaty is a patent law multilateral treaty
concluded on 1 June 2000 in Geneva, Switzerland, by 53
states and the European Patent Organisation an
intergovernmental organization .
 Its aim is to harmonize 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.
 As of November 2017, the PLT had 39 contracting
states, while 59 states and the European Patent
Organisation have signed the treaty.
 Summary of the PLT(2000)
 The aim of the Patent Law Treaty is to harmonize and
streamline formal procedures in respect of national and
regional patent applications and patents and, thus, to
make such procedures more user friendly.
 Requirements for obtaining a filing date were
standardized in order to minimize the risks that
applicants could inadvertently lose the filing date , which
is of utmost importance in the patent procedure.
 The PLT requires that the office of any Contracting
Party must accord a filing date to an application upon
compliance.
 A set of formal requirements for national and regional
applications was standardized by incorporating into the
PLT the requirements relating to form or content of
international applications under the Patent Cooperation
Treaty(PCT) , including the contents of the PCT request
Form and the use of that request Form accompanied by
an indication that the application is to be treated as a
national application.
 The standardized Model International Forms that have
to be accepted by the offices of all Contracting Parties
were established.
 A number of procedures before patent offices were
simplified , which contributes to a reduction in costs for
applicants as well as for offices.
 The PLT provides procedures for avoiding the
unintentional loss of substantive rights resulting from
failure to comply with formality requirements or time
limits.
 These include the obligation that offices notify the
applicant or other concerned person, extensions of time
limits, continued processing of a patent for formal defects
, where they were not noticed by the office during the
application stage.
 The PLT was concluded in 2000, and entered into force
in 2005.
 The PLT is open to States members of WIPO and/or
States party to the Paris Convention for the Protection
of Industrial Property(1883).
 It is also open to certain intergovernmental
organizations.
 History of the PLT
 Contracting States to the Patent Law Treaty and dates
of entry into force

DATE STATE
28 April 2005 Republic of Moldova ,
Kyrgyz Republic , Republic
of Slovenia , Slovak
Republic , Federal
 CANADA
 The Canadian government tabled 5 treaties in the
House of Commons on 27 January 2014.
 Among the treaties is the PLT.
 However , the government has not yet tabled legislation
to incorporate the treaties in Canadian law, but the
tabling of the treaties is a strong signal that the
government is moving ahead with harmonization of its
IP laws.
 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.
 In March 2009 , a report from French Senator Rachel
Mazuir recommended the ratification of the PLT , as
soon as possible , by France.
 On 24 July 2009 , the government was authorized to
ratify the PLT.
 The PLT then entered into force for France on 5
January 2010.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
 The Treaty was ratified by the United States on 18
September 2013.
 Parts of the PLT were applied to U.S. patent law with
the passage of the Patent Law Treaties Implementation
Act of 2012.
 REFERENCES
1. abc “Patent Law Treaty(Total Contracting Parites:39)”
WIPO. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
2. French Senate web site, Senate, 2008-2009 Ordinary
Session Apoendix to the minutes of the meeting held
on January 14,2009,Bill authorizing the ratification of
the Patent Law Treaty, 14 January 2009.Consulted on
22 January 2009.
3. Laurent Teyssedre, Ratification of the PLT, The blog of
European patent law, 20 January 2009. Consulted on
22 January 2009.
4. French Senate web site, Appendix to the minutes of
the meeting of March 17,2009. Report made on behalf
on the committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and
Armed Forces on the bill authorizing the ratification
of the Treaty on the Law of Patents, By Mr. Rachel
Mazuir , Senator.
5. Laurent Teyssedre , Ratification of the PLT, The blog of
European patent law, 25 March 2009. Consulted on 29
March 2009.
6. JORF No. 0170 of 25 July 2009 page 12409, Text No. 3,
Law No. 2009-892 of 24 July 2009 authorizing the
Ratification of the Patent Law Treaty,
NOR:MAEJ0815903L.
7. Patent Law Treaties Implementation Act of 2012, Pub .
Law 112-211.
 PATENT LAW TREATY
adopted at Geneva on June 1,2000
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Article 1 : Abbreviated Expressions
Article 2 : General Principles
Article 3 : Application and Patents to which
the Treaty Applies
Article 4 : Security Exception
Article 5 : Filling Date
Article 6 : Application
Article 7 : Representation
Article 8 : Communication; Addresses
Article 9 : Notification
Article 10 : Validity of Patent : Revocation
Article 11 : Relief in Respect of Times Limits
Article 12 : Reinstatement of Rights After a Finding of Due care
on Unintentionality By the Office
Article 13 : Correction or Addition of Priority Claim;
Restoration of Priority Right
Article 14 : Regulations
Article 15 : Relation to the Paris Convention
Article 16 : Effects of Revisions, Amendments and Modification
of the Patent Corporation Treaty
Article 17 : Assembly
Article 18 : International Bureau
Article19 : Revisions
Article20 : Becoming Party to the Treaty
Article 21: Entery into Force; Effective Dates of
Ratifications and Accessions
Article 22 : Application of the Treaty to Existing
Applications and Patents
Article 23 : Reservation
Article 24 : Denunciation of the Treaty
Article 25 : Languages of the Treaty
Article 26 : Signature of Treaty
Article 27 : Depository; Registration