The Patent Cooperation Treaty reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Patent Cooperation Treaty

The Patent Cooperation Treaty (or PCT) provides a unified procedure for filing patent applications to protect inventions worldwide. A single filing results in a single search (and optionally a preliminary examination), after which the examination (if provided by national law) and grant procedures are handled by the relevant national or regional authorities.

History

The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) was signed in Washington on June 19, 1970, and entered into force on January 21, 1978. The first international applications were filed on June 1, 1978. The Treaty was subsequently amended in 1979, and modified in 1984 and 2001.

Accession

Any Contracting State to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property can become a member of the PCT.

A majority of the world's countries are signatories to the PCT, including all of the major industrialised countries.

Procedure

One of the main advantages of the PCT procedure (or international procedure) is the possibility to delay as much as possible the national or regional procedures, and the respective fees and translation costs.

Filing

The first step of the procedure consists in filing an "international" patent application with a suitable patent office. This application is called an "international" patent application though it does not result in an international patent (which does not exist).

Search

A search or "international search" is then made by an authorised "International Searching Authority" (ISA) to find out the most relevant prior art documents regarding the claimed subject-matter.

Publication

18 months after the filing date or the priority date if any, the international application is published by the International Bureau of WIPO, based at Geneva, Switzerland.

Optional examination

Afterwards, a "preliminary examination" may optionally be requested ("demanded"). The "international examination" is achieved by an authorized "International Preliminary Examination Authority" (IPEA).

National and regional phases

Finally, 30 months from the filing date of the patent application or from the priority date if any (except for a few countries) the international patent application "enters" in national or regional phase.

See also

World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), European Patent Office (EPO or EPOff), Intellectual Property

External links

• Patent Cooperation Treaty on the WIPO page

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