Patent registration expected to shoot up

The number of patents registered at the local office is expected to increase from the current 200 a year to 3,000 over the next five years, the Minister for Competitiveness, Censu Galea, said yesterday.

This will follow the updating of local law that will allow patent seekers to apply here for international patents.

Speaking at the opening of a conference entitled Malta and the European Patent Convention, Mr Galea said domestic legislation pertaining to intellectual property had been updated in 2001 in line with World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) conventions, the World Trade Organisation agreement and the European Union's acquis.

"Such a route has been taken by many nations and as a result creators of intellectual property are accorded similar rights when they apply for protection in different countries," he said.

Referring to traditional methods in the acquisition of international protection, Mr Galea said that "the owner of a new invention has to apply in each and every country where protection is sought, using different languages, paying separate fees to the respective patent offices, as well as charges to the national patent attorneys. This obviously is very costly and acts as a deterrent to commercial exploitation of the invention".

Malta's accession to the European Patent Convention is imminent.

A database will be eventually available at the Commerce Division, through an international registration system, that will offer information on over 100,000 patented inventions per year.

The one-day conference was organised by the Malta Commerce Division in collaboration with the European Patent Office (EPO) at the Corinthia San Gorg Hotel, in St Julians.