Fish Named Top IP Law Firm in the World in Filings of Patent Cooperation Treaty Applications

Boston, MA, October 15, 2009 - Fish & Richardson has been named the top intellectual property law firm in the world in Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) application filings according to Managing Intellectual Property's first-ever worldwide PCT rankings. Fish filed 839 PCT applications in the 14 biggest markets in the world, far exceeding the second-ranked firm with 687 applications. Fish also was ranked number one in the U.S market.

The PCT is an international treaty, administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), between more than 125 Paris Convention countries. The PCT makes it possible to seek patent protection for an invention simultaneously in each of a large number of countries by filing a single "international" patent application. Developed in 1970, and most recently modified in 2001, PCT was intended to streamline the patent application process and thus save time and cost for the applicant and patent offices around the world.