Industry Trilateral Opposition to PCT Fee Increase

According to a September 22, 2004 letter to the Director General of WIPO that was signed by UNICE Secretary General Philippe de Buck, JIPA Managing Director Taisuke Kato, IPO President J. Jeffrey Hawley, and AIPLA President Rick Nydegger:

We are aware that PCT funds are used to subsidize other WIPO programs. Indeed, it is our understanding, based on document WO/PBC/7/2, that PCT is expected to generate 505,719,000 Swiss francs [$399,999,226] for the 2004 ? 2005 biennium, but will only receive 124,603,000 Swiss francs [$98,554,935 or 25%] of this total. While we are interested in some of these other activities, we believe this difference exceeds the limit as to how much PCT applicants should reasonably be expected to subsidize the other activities of WIPO.

For all of these reasons, we urge that the proposal to increase the International Filing Fee at the upcoming PCT Assembly Meeting be deferred and not adopted until and unless the International Bureau can justify the proposed increase.