Feasibility Study
At the meeting of the Nordic Council of Ministers on 29 September 2003, the Ministers for Trade and Industry noted the need for a closer Nordic cooperation in PCT matters, and the following decision was taken:
"The Heads of the Nordic Patent offices are requested - having the total resource allocations in mind - to carry out a feasibility study on the possibility of establishing a Joint Nordic PCT Authority".
The Heads of Office established a Working Party to carry out the study with particular attention to the following issues:
- The general objective of establishing a Joint Nordic PCT Authority, including the possible benefits to users and society. This should take into account the present and foreseeable future situation concerning
- The industrial structure of the individual Nordic countries
- The patent filing pattern in the Nordic countries
- The patent system in Europe and globally
- Distribution of workload and technical competencies between the offices
- Quality assurance
- Organisational structure
- Legal matters
- Financial matters
- Technical matters, e.g. IT
The full terms of reference for the Working Party can be found in Annex 1.
The Working Party has, in accordance with its mandate, investigated possible forms of institutionalised cooperation and not considered other, more loose forms of cooperation.
The feasibility study is in three parts, the main report contained in part one and a pre-study contained in part two. Part three contains a number of annexes.
The main report investigates a number of possible models for the establishment of a Nordic Patent Institute and assesses their potential to meet the established objective of the Joint Nordic PCT Authority. The main report also contains a more detailed proposal for a first model, which is considered preferable as a starting point, and a second model which might be feasible in a longer term perspective.
The pre-study establishes a solid basis for assessing the need for competent patent authorities in the Nordic countries and the challenges that these patent offices might face. It also assesses whether development trends in general within the Nordic region would support the concept of Nordic cooperation within the industrial property (IP) area. Finally, the pre-study served as a basis for establishing the general objective of a Joint Nordic PCT Authority.
Read the complete study: Feasibility Study on the Establishment of a Joint Nordic PCT Authority