James Nurton, London
Every extra year of pendency at the three biggest patent offices costs the global economy £7.6 billion ($11.35 billion), according to a study commissioned by the UK IP Office that was published last month. The study, by London Economics, also found that mutual recognition "has the potential to considerably reduce backlogs" and could achieve savings of up to £23 billion ($34.5 billion).
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| UK IP minister David Lammy |
The study examines patent trends, focusing on the Trilateral offices of the EPO, USPTO and JPO as well as the national offices of Australia, Canada, China, Germany, UK, India and Korea. It says that patent office delays have been increasing, with the USPTO alone having a backlog of about 750,000 applications and the JPO more than 800,000.
The study predicts that, under current trends, "backlogs will rise considerably over the next five years". For...