Patent systems

Although framed by important international standards and conventions (the 1883 Paris Convention, the 1978 Patent Cooperation Treaty, the 1990's TRIPs, the more recent Patent Prosecution Highways), patent systems vary substantially across countries. Applicants being proactive in managing their patent portfolio at the global level must adapt to the jurisdictions they operate in. Besides fees and costs - which are investigated in another chapter - major differences include the legal standards and the process design that shape the day-to-day operations of patent offices, their governance, and post-grant litigation practices. While these differences are legitimate (as they are often shaped by the country's policies), they have an impact on how domestic and non-domestic innovators rely on these patent systems. This chapter aims at presenting major differences across offices and how they might affect the extent to which they are used. The chapter is structured as follows: i) introduction; ii) stylized facts on heterogenous demands in large patent offices; ii) discussion on important differences in their legal standards; iv) a strong evidence-based focus on heterogeneous process designs with a brief insight into the differences that occur at the governance level; v) conclusive remarks and future research.