Year 2030
The Future of the Intellectual Property System

Part of the Executive Committee meeting in Broome, March 1998, was dedicated to the initiation of a long-term Strategic Plan for FICPI. At the request of FICPI, Marc Chinoy of The Regis Group Inc. facilitated group deliberations and the following are the Groups' findings on the future of the Intellectual Property System.

Over the next thirty years, a widening base of clients is likely to demand efficient patent and trademark protection globally. This assumption, if correct, coupled with enhanced worldwide enforcement and more specialised courts is likely to increase the need for professional intervention on behalf of patent and trademark holders. As a result, there will be greater competition for patent attorneys from third party professionals and para-professionals, however the IP profession will require technically qualified individuals, and will continue to remain allied with the legal profession. Most if not all IP Practitioners will acquire legal qualifications in one form or another.

As the 21st century progresses, IP will become more important relative to other forms of business/industrial output and will steadily increase in relative economic value. Corporations will have established larger budgets for IP management and will continue to increase R&D spending targeted at IP. There will be increased conflict related to both patent and trademark interests. Advanced innovations will challenge conventional forms of IP protections and will create many new types of IP protections.

In general, the IP system will be heavily influenced by the emergence of intelligent software which is likely to enable rapid examination of patent officers and move the international system toward standardised mutual recognition of examination results.

By the year 2030, specialised courts, better defined worldwide laws and cross-border enforcement will either be in place or will be close to implementation.

Professional liability will be of increasing concern to legal professionals leading to not only an increase in the cost of litigation insurance, but also to the availability of coverage.

Multi-disciplinary firms and patent law as a component of broader practice legal firms are likely to emerge.

Advances in language recognition and translation software are likely to reduce the prospect of a global IP system moving to one language only.

The group believes that there is a prospect of the creation of a single centralised patent office. There is also a prospect that WIPO will act as a recipient for centrally filed and examined applications and that registration will be made without further examination. In addition, there is likely to be a radically modified registration methodology which will rely heavily on computers, but which will call nonetheless for expert intervention on behalf of the patent and trademark holders. In response to these changes ,the appearance of a broader group of potential clients is likely to stimulate the emergence of a globally qualified attorney.

For a full report on FICPI's Strategic Plan, see FICPI Newsletter, issue 39, July 1998