Language Policy and Innovation. An Evaluation of the Language Regime of the PCT System

Abstract

This article provides an evaluation of the language policy of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). It focuses on the reform occurred in 2008, when the Korean language was given the status of a language of publication of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). Results show that the 2008 reform entailed an average reduction of at least 54 percent in the costs of access to the PCT procedures for Korean-speaking applicants, and it generated aggregate savings for them of about €24 million between 2009 and 2011. The additional costs borne by the International Bureau of WIPO due to the reform were €2.3 million. The new language policy has led to a more balanced distribution of admission and interaction costs among applicant countries. It is likely that the 2008 reform brought about a transfer of information costs from Korean-speaking countries to English-speaking countries and inventors fluent in English as a second language, but this effect was offset by exogenous factors. Finally, adding the Korean language is likely to have had a positive impact on the cost-effectiveness of the language policy of the International Bureau of WIPO. It is estimated that between 2009 and 2011 the reform increased the number of International patent applications from Korean-speaking applicants by about 21.6 percent, and that the extra fee income collect-ed by the International Bureau after the reform was enough to cover its extra translation costs. Our results suggest that more multilingualism in international organisations can be at the same time more cost-effective and fairer than monolingualism if comprehensive and adequate notions of cost and benefit are used.