Shiva, Have you considered that with patents - as compared to...

Shiva,

Have you considered that with patents - as compared to trade marks - there is a lot more prosecution. Examiners are generally a lot more robust in their examination. If EPCT does come into operation, I expect that the patent firms will just increase their prosecution fees responding to examination reports etc, in order to offset any loss in filing the application upon entering the national phase of a PCT application.

So patent applications filed under EPCT will be filed without regard to the local law requirements, which means more prosecution fees by local firms.