STANDING COMMITTEE ON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES STANDARDS AND DOCUMENTATION WORKING GROUP

SCIT/SDWG/8/7 ORIGINAL: English DATE: February 16, 2007

 

Eighth Session - Geneva, March 19 to 22, 2007

INFORMATION REGARDING THE WIPO DIGITAL ACCESS SERVICE FOR PRIORITY DOCUMENTS BY THE P-DOCS TASK FORCE LEADER (TASK No. 15)

Document prepared by the Secretariat

 

1. The P-docs Task Force was established by the Standing Committee on Information Technologies (SCIT) Standards and Documentation Working Group (SDWG) pursuant to Task No. 15 (“Study the consequences of e-filing on the production of certified office copies with particular reference to those used for priority purposes”). The background to, and status of, Task No. 15 is set out in document SCIT/SDWG/8/12.

2. At its seventh session held from May 29 to June 1, 2006, the SDWG received an oral progress report from the Leader of the P-docs Task Force (see document SCIT/SDWG/7/9, paragraph 25): “The Task Force Leader informed the SDWG that a proposal with respect to priority document exchange was being prepared by the Secretariat and should be presented to the September Assemblies of the Member States of WIPO meetings. Task Force members would be informed as soon as the proposal was finalized.”

3. The Task Force Leader subsequently, by e-mail of September 21, 2006, informed Task Force members that a document had been prepared by the Secretariat for consideration by the WIPO Assemblies (see document A/42/5). The Assemblies of the Paris Union for the Protection of Industrial Property, the Patent Law Treaty and the International Patent Cooperation Union (PCT Union), in the context of the 42nd series of meetings of the Assemblies of the Member States of WIPO held in Geneva from September 25 to October 3, 2006, approved the establishment of a digital access service for priority documents. Creation of the service will respond to an Agreed Statement by the Diplomatic Conference for the Adoption of the Patent Law Treaty in which WIPO was urged to expedite the creation of a digital library system for priority documents. The Assemblies:

“(a) approved the convening in early 2007 of an ad hoc Working Group to consider matters associated with the establishment of a digital access service for priority documents to be administered by the International Bureau;

(b) directed the International Bureau to establish framework provisions and appropriate procedures, according to the recommendations from the Working Group, for administering the digital service;

(c) directed the International Bureau to implement the digital access service in accordance with the established framework provisions and procedures;

(d) requested the International Bureau to report to them in September 2007 on the results of the ad hoc Working Group and on any implementation of the service that may have commenced.”

(see document A/42/14, paragraph 220).

4. The first session of the Working Group on the Digital Access Service for Priority Documents has been convened to meet in Geneva from February 7 to 9, 2007. Invitations to participate in the session have been sent to States which are members of the Paris Union, the PLT Assembly and/or the PCT Union and, as observers, to certain other States and to certain intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations. The agenda and working documents, as well as an electronic forum established to facilitate the work of the Working Group, are accessible on WIPO’s website via http://www.wipo.int/pdocaccess. Interested members of the SDWG and of the P-docs Task Force are encouraged to contribute, as appropriate, to that work.

5. In view of the consideration of the matter by the Assemblies and of the convening of the Working Group, it is suggested that Task No. 15 be held in abeyance, subject to review in the light of progress in the development of the digital access service.

6. The SDWG is invited to note the contents of this document and to hold Task No. 15 in abeyance, as suggested in paragraph 5, above.

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