Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) offers you to protect your inventions abroad. The PCT was concluded in 1970, amended in 1979, and modified in 1984 and 2001. The PCT is Multinational Treaty, administrated by the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), whose headquarters are in Geneva (Switzerland).
The PCT filing facility provides you to protect your invention with effect in several States, instead of filing several separate National and or regional Patents.
The Treaty makes it possible to seek patent protection for an invention simultaneously in each of a large number of countries by filing an "international" patent application. Such an application may be filed by anyone who is a national or resident of a Contracting State (132 Contracting States). It may generally be filed with the national patent office of the Contracting State of which the applicant is a national or resident or, at the applicant's option, with the International Bureau of WIPO in Geneva.
PCT PROCEDURE
The PCT procedure consists of two main phases: “International Phase” and “National Phase”. The International Phase consists of three main steps for the applicant. The first step consist of the filing of the International Application by the applicant and its processing by the “Receiving Office” and the second step consists the International Search Report and Written Opinion issued by the selected “International Searching Authority” and the Publication of the international application together with the international search report. The third step includes communication of the published international application and the International Search Report, as well as the International Preliminary Report on Patentability by the International Bureau of WIPO.
After filing the PCT application, the applicant has to enter the “National Phase” before the applicable time limit (i.e. 31 Months for India from the date of Priority). The applicant may file the application in the different interested foreign countries.
ADVANTAGES OF PCT
The procedure under the PCT has great advantages for you as an applicant, for the patent Offices and for the general Public.
Use of the PCT saves effort—time, work, money—for any person or firm (“the applicant”) seeking protection for an invention in a number of countries.
Use of the PCT also helps the applicant to make decisions about the prosecution of the application before the various national Patent Offices in the national phase of processing.
The saving arises primarily from the fact that, under the PCT, the applicant files one application—the international application—in one place, in one language and pays one initial set of fees, and that this international application has the effect of a national or regional application, which, without the PCT, he would have to file separately for each country or region.
You have up to 18 months more than if you had not used the PCT to reflect on the desirability of seeking protection in foreign countries, to appoint local patent agents in each foreign country, to prepare the necessary translations and to pay the national fees
You can rest assured that, if your international application is in the form prescribed by the PCT, it cannot be rejected on formal grounds by any PCT Contracting State patent Office during the national phase of the processing of the application on the basis of the international search report and the written opinion, you can evaluate with reasonable probability the chances of your invention being patented
You have the possibility during the optional international preliminary examination to amend the international application and thus put it in order before processing by the various patent Offices
The search and examination work of patent Offices can be considerably reduced or eliminated thanks to the international search report, the written opinion and, where applicable, the international preliminary report on patentability that accompany the international application
Since each international application is published together with an international search report, third parties are in a better position to formulate a well-founded opinion about the potential patentability of the claimed invention
For you as an applicant, international publication puts the world on notice of your application, which can be an effective means of advertising and looking for potential licensees.
