[DMCA-Activists] Fwd: Press Release PR/2003/354 : WIPO Pledges to Boost Its Patent Statistics Activities

[Seth Johnson]

(A WIPO Press Release)

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From: address@hidden
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 13:39:15 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: Press Release PR/2003/354:  WIPO Pledges to Boost Its Patent 
Statistics Activities

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Press Release PR/2003/354
Geneva, September 19, 2003
WIPO Pledges to Boost Its Patent Statistics Activities  

At the conclusion this week of the first public conference on the use
of patent statistics to analyze economic and technological trends
hosted by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the
Organization pledged to boost its activities relating to patent
statistics. WIPO also announced the development of a web portal for
patent statistics with links to institutions with long-standing
experience in generating information in this area. The conference,
attended by some 200 specialists from 35 countries and designed to
foster communication among policy makers, national and regional
intellectual property (IP) offices, patent attorneys, statisticians and
research institutions, sought to identify ways to more effectively use
intellectual property statistics as indicators of technological
development and economic growth.

WIPO Assistant Director General, Mr. Francis Gurry, said that "WIPO
will place renewed vigor on its activities in the patent statistics
area" in light of the growing importance of IP in development and
technological progress. He said that WIPO was committed to collecting
clearer, more accurate and more complete international industrial
property statistics.

Mr. Gurry said that the increased centrality of intellectual property
within the knowledge economy had fuelled claims about the role of
intellectual property in general. The conference, he said, was an
important step towards establishing an empirically based understanding
of the role of the intellectual property system generally and patents,
in particular. Mr. Gurry said "we think it is particularly important to
move away from anecdote and rhetoric towards empirical data to properly
understand the role of intellectual property and the purpose of this
conference is to gain insights into this question." 

The Conference covered three principal uses of patent statistics - by
IP offices for strategic planning, by private sector companies in
performing competitive market analyses and formulating patenting
strategy and by economists and government policy makers in
understanding innovation, economic growth and in analyzing potential
changes to the legal system.

Users of patent statistics underlined the need for statistical data
that respond to requirements of a wide-ranging user community. In
particular, they stressed the need for data that is accurate, uniform,
easily accessible and available in a timely manner. The conference
further called for greater coordination between patent information
specialists, and professionals from the business, intellectual property
and economic spheres to, for example, establish best practices in
categorizing and analyzing data.

The conference was followed by a two-day technical workshop on
statistics in the patent field co-organized by WIPO and the
Organisation for Economic and Co-operation Development (OECD) on
September 18 and 19. The OECD is an internationally recognized research
body with long-standing experience in the field of patent statistics
and economic analysis. This technical meeting brought together science
and technology specialists and statisticians from 19 countries. 

Discussions focused on the state-of-the-art in patent statistics, the
improvement of quality and availability of statistics, and methods for
forecasting patent filings. The workshop provided an opportunity for
WIPO and the OECD to enhance cooperation with those intellectual
property offices that already have significant experience in patent
statistics-related issues, such as the European Patent Office (EPO),
the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Japan
Patent Office (JPO) and statistical institutions. WIPO and the OECD
agreed to increase their collaboration in the area of patent
statistics.

Patents, as a primary source of technological information, offer a
unique resource for analyzing the process of technological change and
measuring the knowledge base and competitive position of a given
industry or country. Data contained in patents and patent-related
documents are valuable in formulating effective technology policies in
both private and public sectors at regional, national, and
international levels. The conference and the technical workshop were
designed to promote better understanding of how patent statistics may
be better used as a strategic economic planning tool for policy makers
and to assist companies in strengthening their patenting strategies. 

For further information please contact the Media Relations and Public
Affairs Section Section at: 

Tel: (+41 22) - 338 81 61 or 338 95 47 
Fax: (+41 22) - 338 88 10 
Email: address@hidden


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