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There is more downside to come. Recall over 90% of Australian patent filings are by the PCT and all this work is at risk due to ePCT national phase.

The trials with ePCT NP resumed at the end of March. WIPO had put it on hold as they revised the look and feel of the ePCT browser. It was completed in March, hence the return to the trials. Patent attorneys knew about it in March.

There has been significant interest in advancing ePCT NP from national patent offices. They consider it will reduce their workload and there have been proposals to expand it to other services. Patent offices want to expand ePCT to events which occur after national phase entry including search report from other offices. They want to use it as an information sharing platform.

WIPO has commenced a pilot for electronic payments for patents. Several Patent offices had raised the payments as issue with ePCT NP. WIPO already collects funds on behalf of national offices in relation to other IP services.

ePCT NP was going to substantially reduce incoming patent filings and it may impact on post filing events and revenue.