Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)

The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) is a multilateral treaty formed in 1970 and modified several times since formation.  The PCT is administered by the International Bureau (IB) of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) headquartered in Geneva Switzerland.  As of May 2011, there are 143 countries which are members or “contracting states” of the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

In the U.S., the PCT allows an inventor to file one patent application (an “international application” or “PCT application”) in the U.S. Receiving Office (the United States Patent and Trademark Office) and have the application acknowledged as a regular patent application filed in all contracting states.  The PCT application provides for an international search report and a written opinion on patentability.  The international application, however, does not eliminate the necessity of prosecuting the application in the contracting states which the inventor desires patent protection.

Similarly, a non-U.S. inventor/applicant can file an international application in his national patent office.  Since the PCT application automatically designates the United States, the non-U.S. applicant can commence prosecution of a U.S. patent application via the international application.

A PCT application provides the following benefits: 1) up to 30 months from the effective filing date of the PCT application to decide on whether or not to seek protection in foreign countries; 2) based on the search report and written opinion, an evaluation on the probability of success in obtaining patent protection; and 3) the possibility during international preliminary examination to amend the PCT application before it is prosecuted by the various contracting states.

Usually, a U.S. inventor will file a PCT application within 12 months of filing a U.S. patent application.

 

See also:

World Intellectual Property Organization

 

 

Related links:

Useful Links – U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Useful Links – World Intellectual Property Organization

Filed under the Intellectual Property Law category.

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