International Patent Applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)

Note This article is an excerpt of a brochure I prepared for my firm summarizing the pros and cons of international patent applications pursuant to the PCT.

Read the whole article at the BARDEHLE website.

The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) enables applicants to initiate patent protection for an invention in almost any country of the world (as of January 2010, there are 142 PCT contracting states) by means of a single international patent application – the PCT application. Following a centralized search of the international patent application, the applicant obtains a detailed preliminary assessment of the patentability of the invention – the international preliminary report on patentability.

The international application, however, does not lead to an “international patent”. On the contrary, 30 or 31 months after the priority date of the international application, applicant has to select national/ regional patent offices of the countries or regions, where patent protection is finally desired. Each selected national/ regional patent office then independently decides on the patentability of the international patent application in the respective country/region.

Filing a single international patent application not only results in less administrative efforts in the early stages of the application but also has an import…