The National Board of Patents and Registration of Finland will become the twelfth Patent Office to work as International Searching Authority (ISA) and International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA) under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), after the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Assembly adopted unanimously this decision, on September 24, 2003.
Currently, the other ten contracting States working as PCT Authorities are: Austria, Australia, Canada, China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Russia, Spain, Sweden and United States of America. Also the European Patent Office (EPO) works as ISA/IPEA.
The Agreement will come into force during the course of 2004.
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