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#Standing Committee on the Law of Patents - SCP.

The SCP was created in 1998 to serve as a forum to discuss issues, facilitate coordination and provide guidance concerning the progressive international development of patent law. By dealing with clusters of interlocking issues rather than working in isolation on single issues, it is intended to provide member states with an effective mechanism for setting priorities and allocating resources, and ensure the coordination and continuity of interrelated, on-going work.

History

1998-2000

Recent developments

Since the negotiations on the draft Substantive Patent Law Treaty (SPLT) were put on hold in 2006, the main focus of the work of the SCP has been on building a technical and legal resource base from which to hold informed discussions in order to develop a work program. Therefore, a series of documents elaborating various aspects of patent law were produced and discussed at the subsequent sessions of the SCP.

At the twelfth session in 2008, the Report on the International Patent System . focusing on the economic rationale, legal and organizational aspects as well as policy considerations and development concerns of the patents system, was discussed for the first time and a non-exhaustive list of issues was identified by the Committee for further elaboration and discussion at its future sessions. At its thirteenth session. the SCP discussed preliminary studies on the following issues: