The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) is an international patent law treaty, concluded in 1970. It provides a unified procedure for filing patent applications to protect inventions in each of its contracting states. A patent application filed under the PCT is called an international application, or PCT application.
PCT procedure
The procedure for passing an international application in accordance with the Treaty provides for two phases: international and national.
The international phase continues for each individual specified state up to the time of the transfer of the application to the national phase to the appropriate designated office or until the expiration of the applicable period of transition to the national phase to the given state. Since the transition to the national phase can be carried out at different times in different specified states, an international application can be simultaneously in the national phase for some states and in the international phase - for others.
Washington Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) main features:
done The participants are in 100 states;
done The treaty enforced an international patent application;
done The application is submitted to one of the international search authorities, which carry out a documentary search to determine the current level of technology;
done Patenting can be done in several countries in parallel;
done Patenting costs are reduced.
General Notes on the PCT System
• Patent Cooperation Treaty, signed in June 1970 in Washington, entered into force in June 1978;
• The PCT system is a patent filing system, not with the issuance of patents;
• The PCT application review procedure consists of:
International phase, including:
• filing an international application
• International Search and Writing a letter of International Legal Relations
• international publication
• international preliminary expertise
National phase in the local authorities
• The decision on the issuance of patents is taken exclusively by
national or regional authorities and agencies during national / regional phase