Development of PCT in Latin America and the Caribbean

On 15 and 16 July, the Regional Seminar on the Patents Cooperation Treaty (PCT) took place in Lima (Peru). It was organised by the Peruvian National Institute for Fair Trading and Intellectual Property (Instituto Nacional de Defensa de la Competencia y de la Propiedad Intelectual – INDECOPI), WIPO and the Spanish Patents and Trade Mark Office (OEPM). Development of the Treaty in Latin America and the Caribbean (1978-2013) and future cooperation activities by WIPO in the region in the field of the PCT were the main topics covered during the meeting. In addition, experiences on how to implement and promote the PCT at national level were shared, as well as good practices in receiving offices, how to use the PCT technical information and the importance of, and developments in, PCT international searches and preliminary exams.

Prior to the Seminar, on 11 and 12 July, a meeting on Quality Procedures and Good Practices was held in the PCT receiving offices.

CIBEPYME
Spain presented CIBEPYME, the platform to assist Latin American enterprises and SMEs which is to be coordinated by WIPO and the OEPM. It also gave a presentation on the future shared data base on jurisprudence.

At the meeting the strategic framework and structure of WIPO programmes for the two-year period from 2014 to 2015 were described, as well as prospects for cooperation by WIPO with Latin American countries.

To close these meetings, on 17 July, during the Meeting of Directors of Industrial Property Offices, the report on the Latin American Programme on Industrial Property and Promotion of Development was submitted.