Peru Enters the PCT Era

By Francisco Espinosa

From December 06, 2010 it is possible for applicants of international PCT applications which still do not have thirty months since the original priority date, to enter into National Phase in Peru.

The National Phase procedure has the following steps:
a. Filling of the application by the interested party
b. Verification of the requirements (formal examination)
c. Publication of the application
d. Opposition period
e. Examination on the merits
f. Issuance of the Resolution granting or denying the patent

The PCT is expected to produce a dual goal. On one hand it will help the access of foreign investment and technology into Peru, providing the benefits generally recognized to the patent system, both while the patent is in force and once it has lapsed.
But more importantly, it will provide Peruvian companies and inventors with an easier and cheaper system for protecting their inventions and innovations abroad, giving them the time to explore first the foreign market for their invention before having to decide the actual countries where the patent will be filed.

This is one of the major advantages of the PCT system, and is now available to Peruvian companies and inventors. The question now is if such a system will provide incentives to an anemic Peruvian Research and Development (R&D) activity, in order to start investing time and money in such area.

For years the Peruvian government has mostly ignored the importance of R&D in the competitiveness and future of Peruvian economy. However the accession to the PCT, along with some other still timid policies, might show that authorities are starting to realize that no long term political project for our country can ignore the need to adequately incentive the development of technology and added value to our manufactured goods.

Unfortunately in the last years we have become used to sell raw materials at high international prices which have provided big revenues, but our economy cannot be so vulnerable and dependant on the international prices of minerals and raw materials, and needs to balance it with industrial production that offer some technology or added value.

The private companies have also lacked the vision to implement such kind of research despite the lack of public policies. Only a few private universities seem to really understand the potential of developing and licensing Industrial Property rights.
Implementing such kind of public policy and waiting until it start producing the desired effects can take many years, but it has to start somewhere, and the new PCT era in Peru is a perfect starting place for it.

Hopefully in some few years an increasing number of Peruvian patent applications will be filed abroad. And in the meantime, we expect to start receiving more foreign patent applications in Peru, raising the number of filings from the last years.
Our country is eager to receive all the benefits the PCT promises.