Imminent opportunity for PCT e-filing at RO/IB

(What follows is the text of an announcement received February 10, 2004 from WIPO, revised to update some links)

Readers are reminded that an email discussion group for PCT e-filers has been set up. Instructions for subscribing may be seen at http://www.patents.com/pct/.

The PCT-SAFE Pilot closed on February 12, 2004.

Please be advised that the International Bureau as receiving Office (RO/IB) has announced in Section IV of the PCT Gazette (issue 07/2004 - 12 February 2004) that the PCT-SAFE pilot program ended on February 12, 2004, and that, with effect from that date, the RO/IB is prepared to receive any international application in electronic form that complies with the necessary requirements.

The restriction to filings by registered pilot users will no longer apply.

The milestone of PCT-SAFE going live would not have been possible without the PCT-SAFE pilot participants.  We would like to thank all of you who participated in the pilot for your efforts and contributions since it became operational in February 2003.  We hope that you will consider continuing with electronic filing with RO/IB under the open PCT-SAFE system.

Details of how to electronically file using PCT-SAFE are now available on our web site (PDF). We also request that you take into account the following points:

1. It is recommended that PCT-SAFE Pilot users upgrade to the latest version (3.50 (build 0002.158)) of the PCT-SAFE client, we have placed it on our web site at: http://www.wipo.int/pct-safe/en/support/download.htm
2. The digital certificate issued to you for use during the Pilot cannot be used under the open system and should be replaced by a certificate obtained from a recognized Certification Authority, such as the WIPO Customer Certification Authority or epoline®.  Obtaining a certificate from the WIPO Customer Certification Authority is simple, and enrolment is possible on-line.
3. Since the PCT-SAFE Pilot will be closed on February 12, 2004, the 'demo' mode of the PCT-SAFE client should only be used for training and practice filings as from this date.  Only real electronic filings should be done in 'production' mode.  Fully electronic filings do not require the filing of the paper documents as the electronic version will be considered the legal copy.
4. The PCT fee schedule has been modified with effect from January 1, 2004 to take into account fee reductions for electronic filing.  The fee reduction for a PCT-EASY type filing (paper + diskette) will be CHF 100, or equivalent. It will, however, be possible to use the PCT-SAFE software to file electronically with RO/IB on-line or on physical media and benefit from a reduction of CHF 200 or equivalent (where the text of the description, claims and abstract is not in character coded format, e.g. in PDF of TIFF format) or CHF 300 or equivalent (where the text of the description, claims and abstract is in character coded format, e.g. if prepared in an 'XML' format using the PCT-SAFE editor or any other tool specially built for patent authoring and PCT electronic filing ).
5. PCT-SAFE fully incorporates PCT-EASY functionality - allowing for the creation and printing of the validated PCT-EASY request form and the PCT-EASY diskette - the distribution of PCT-EASY as separate software has been discontinued.

For assistance please contact the PCT-SAFE Help Desk via e-mail at PCTSafe.help@wipo.int