WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP/38)
WIPO member states and observers meet in Geneva and online for five days of patent-policy work spanning AI inventorship, patent quality, exceptions, technology transfer and the international patent system.
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What you need to know
The thirty-eighth session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Patents runs from 2 to 6 November 2026 at WIPO headquarters in Geneva and online. Daily sessions are scheduled from 10:00 to 18:00 Geneva time, with interpretation in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. Registration is open through WIPO Meet, and WIPO provides a public webcast.
The revised agenda combines long-running patent-system work with fast-moving questions created by artificial intelligence. Delegates are due to consider national and regional patent-law developments, patent quality, opposition systems, exceptions and limitations, technology transfer, confidentiality of communications between patent advisers and clients, and the relationship between patent systems and access to health technologies. A dedicated report carries forward the prior expert exchange on patentability criteria and AI inventorship.
What to expect
- Patentability criteria and AI inventorship
- Patent quality, opposition systems and international filing rules
- Exceptions, limitations and public-interest safeguards
- Technology transfer, health technologies and disclosure
Who should attend
- Patent-office officials and government IP policymakers
- Patent attorneys, in-house counsel and licensing teams
- AI, biotechnology and technology-transfer specialists
- Researchers and civil-society organisations following patent policy
SCP/38 moves some of the patent system's hardest questions from general debate into a member-state work programme. Its documents on patentability and AI inventorship, cross-border filing rules, technology transfer and access to health technologies can shape future studies, guidance and negotiating positions, even though the committee does not itself grant patents or make treaty law at a single session.